Seraph of Blades
by greysongarr
Summary: Nanoha Takamachi, youngest and last child of the Main branch of the Takamachi, heir to the remainder of the clan. Her past is filled with hardship, her future destined to be spent withering away before a little ferret called out to her.
1. Conception I

_AN: Never thought I'd be doing another story here again, but this one of many ideas took my fancy simply because of how… interesting it was to me. Ahh, before I ramble on and forget, this is a challenge that was made by NHunter that I decided to take up, one that is very self-explanatory all said. A close-combat Nanoha. I will let all know though, I am not a kind author, I take joy in suffering as much as helping and everything I have thought up is of a darker nature than most. One last thing, I am currently watching Nanoha as I write this so, please forgive me for doing… mistakes if they occur. That is all I will say on the matter, so let the story begin after a short disclaimer._

 _One last thing before the disclaimer, according to both myself and the precious little kitten I call little brother, every ten words is a hug that Nanoha will need, and every 'Starlight Breaker' that gets used will need 132._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

It was always cold and dark when Nanoha awoke. Though given where she woke up and the time she did, never later than three in the morning, it was expected really. Still she dragged herself from her bed and dressed herself in her morning attire, soon Otou-sama would collect her and they'd start their morning rituals.

Onee-sama and Onii-sama kept to themselves for the most part, never really spending time with her or Otou-sama except at dinner and breakfast, or even with each other now that she thought about it. They would always be away in separate places from her and Otou-sama when the entire family was home, which she could understand somewhat, Otou-sama was rather harsh in training. They probably didn't want to see their precious Imouto being hurt so badly.

Her door quietly opened with barely any noise as her clock near-silently chimed three times, with herself looking back from the single dresser to find Otou-sama standing at the door with a passive expression. He waited for her to put on the last set of bandages around her hands before she skipped over to his side with a smile, not a word spoken between them as they headed out through the home to the dojo.

They kept to the same path as they always did, her smile brightening a tiny bit when they reached the grass in-between the two 'traditional'-styled buildings before it dimmed back to a regular smile as they made their way into the dojo, she was always happier with the grass beneath her. She had no idea really why beyond it just felt nice.

Otou-sama retrieved a bokken without any words as was customary between the them, she herself following about two steps behind and grabbing one for herself without much thought behind it. Directly after, she moved to take her place in front of Otou-sama before taking her beginning form and began her routine without any prompting from him.

Her Otou-sama was better than her, he always moved so much more gracefully than her, faster, and _deadlier_ than her. But he was her kind Otou-sama, and he would always keep her, Onee-sama and Onii-sama safe, because that was Otou-sama's duty once Okaa-sama passed. "Nanoha."

The first word of the day caught her attention, but did little to distract her from her routine, continuing to slash downwards twice, once diagonally upward and back downwards before answering her Otou-sama. "Yes Otou-sama?" Neither paused, lagged behind or speed up, perfectly in sync as they often were now, though Nanoha knew her Otou-sama could easily leave her in the dust if he wished simply from the practical experience he had.

"Your wounds from last night will likely open again when we train tonight. You will not stop until we are finished." She gave no visible sign of agreement, focused as she was on keeping her movements as perfect as humanly possible, Otou-sama wouldn't accept anything less from her after so long, even if it reopened her wounds she would continue perfectly until she was finished.

Finally after a short pause between his words and now, she quickly gave an affirmative reply of "Yes Otou-sama." before continuing on silently. They continued for the rest of an hour, whereupon she left towards her room to change out of her home clothes, a simple kendogi consisting of a white uwagi and black hakama, nothing special, and into her school uniform, another simple white robe with some black details.

She took care not to aggravate any of the fresher wounds while still going quickly enough to do her morning chores, that would make Otou-sama mad if she didn't do her chores before the next hour turned. Because of that, she rushed across the grass of the compound to her home, then through the wooden hallways to her room and entering it again and heading directly over to the dresser.

With grace that she assumed was common among her peers, she took off her home clothes and replaced them with her school uniform, neatly folding the former before placing it back on her bed to be worn later. Humming quietly to herself, she turned about, and still with the smile she'd had throughout the morning, walked out the door, and tried to recall what her chore was for the morning.

For a good minute she tried to remember what exactly she was supposed to be doing before recalling, nodding her head and walking in the opposite direction to fetch a broom, humming as she did.

* * *

Breakfast arrived roughly another two hours after her chores were done, Onee-sama and Onii-sama waking up shortly after she had finished and beginning their own morning rituals, Onee-sama cooking while Onii-sama went and practiced for a while. Breakfast was a bit livelier than the rest of the time spent at home, a bit less lively than dinner but still better than the silence that usually dominated since Okaa-sama left.

Onee-sama and Onii-sama talked with one another and occasionally with Otou-sama whenever he asked them a question while she just ate and listened to the conversation. Otou-sama was a kind man, always looking out for his children and helping them whenever possible, always helping his students whenever they were brave enough to ask him for assistance, it was always funny to see them afraid of Otou-sama.

Today's conversation wasn't that interesting, but she listened anyway since it wouldn't be a good idea to not know what the conversation was about on the off-chance that one of them asked her about whatever was being talked about. Onee-chan was talking about something she didn't fully understand, probably another attempt to 'find a hobby' as she put it. "-ry to do calligraphy. It's nice but, it's _really_ hard…"

As always, she finished first, getting up from the table, moving her dishes to the sink and cleaning them while continuing to listen to the conversation behind her, Onii-sama was talking now, exasperated given the sigh but otherwise deadpan and blunt. "Miyuki, you should really stop trying so hard to find something you like doing in your spare time. It will come eventually, you can't expect to just try something and find you love it on top of being good at it."

"I'll be leaving now." With a single interjection, just like always, she bid goodbye to her family, the reply from Onee-sama the only thing she was given and heard as she walked out of the house, through the gate and onto the side of the road, and then heading towards the bus stop. She wasn't in any particular hurry there, as she was always early to the bus despite the distance she had to walk, Otou-sama had drilled it into her head that she should always be early and always finish correctly early.

Though in this case, like almost always, every time she would wait for the bus to arrive for a half-hour or longer, she debated with herself if she should stay a little while longer at home and do another chore before leaving or stay as she was currently doing. The latter always won as Otou-sama's teaching were always were better than her own whims.

And as usual she stopped the internal debate as the bus drove up, her smile in place as she climbed in before it brightened slightly at the call of her name before moving towards Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan at the back. The two happily welcoming her with cheer and smiles, even as several people she passed started shifting for whatever reason, people's reactions were strange most of the time, especially the ones where no sound accompanied the actions.

Few among her schoolmates wanted to be her friend… actually only two really, Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan were the only two that weren't really uncomfortable with her always smiling or her tendency to overperform when called upon… Well there was one kind of subject she wasn't good with no matter how much time she spent studying… that being languages…

Either way she enjoyed having her two friends, even if they were closer to one another than with her, they were nice, made her laugh, Arisa-chan kept her in line and Suzuka-chan managed to always keep her happy and calm, they kept her grounded like Okaa-sama once did for Otou-sama.

* * *

School went as it always did, she studied, she did her work, Arisa-chan got mad at her again for some reason and they tussled with one another, Suzuka-chan tried to get them away from one another and she hit others with a dodgeball in P.E.. That was fun, especially since she was on Suzuka's team.

The walk home went the same way as well, aside for her finding an injured ferret with a black jewel with a red ring around its neck while taking a shortcut Arisa-chan suggested. That was such a nice little path, she'd have to use it again sometime.

She had decided to take the little thing in and help it recover without any prompting from either of her friends after taking it to the veterinarian's, Otou-sama wouldn't mind it so long as she kept good care of the animal and didn't let the care of it distract her from any part of her routine.

She arrived home as the dark was setting in and Onee-sama was finishing making dinner, so she quickly made her way to her room and switched to her home clothes before making her way back and sitting across from Otou-sama.

Dinner was about as lively as breakfast, perhaps a bit more than usual considering she spoke up for once, "Otou-sama?" which despite her never talking at the table caused the conversation to pause and her family to look at her, only Onee-sama looking curious. Shortly after the pause she continued while looking at Otou-sama next to her, "I found a ferret on the way home today. It was injured and I took it to the veterinarian's office. Can I go by tomorrow afternoon to pick it up and bring it here to take care of it?"

When she finished her request, she quickly looked at the reactions, Onii-sama was looking slightly confused for some reason, Onee-sama had soft joy in her expression, and Otou-sama as always she couldn't tell. Otou-sama took a couple of seconds before nodding and returning to his food, stating as he did so, "So long as you keep with your training and studies, there is no reason you can not." Her smile brightened slightly as she bowed minutely to Otou-sama.

"Thank you Otou-sama." Other than that, nothing else out of the ordinary took place, and so they returned to normal and finished their meals at their own pace, with herself and Otou-sama finishing first and stating to clean up. Onee-sama and Onii-sama finished a few minutes after and gave their own plates to her and Otou-sama, as was the custom they shared.

It didn't take long to finish, and soon she was following Otou-sama outside towards their dojo, skipping happily at the thought of holding her blade again, even if it wasn't really the one she would be using after the year ended, it was hers for now, and it had special meaning to her.

They entered the building and her smile didn't dim the moment her feet left the grass like it had ever morning prior, immediately making her way over to the far wall, reaching up to take the sheathed sword off the wall and holding it gingerly between her fingers. It only took a moment to put it at her waist and tie the sheathe into her obi, facing around after she was done and marching to stand opposite Otou-sama, who forwent the sheathe and simply held his blade loosely at his side.

The blade Otou-sama had given her for these nightly practices was longer than most, the blade itself being roughly about 84cm long, her own would be longer, about 91cm, an odachi rather than a katana like Otou-sama and Onee-sama or a tanto like Onii-sama. Supposedly it was because she was the only actual Takamachi by blood in the family, but given she was the only one still around in her branch, and there weren't and books or scrolls on the subject, she had no idea.

Gingerly she took the sword from the sheathe, drawing it out smoothly and holding it in both hands as Otou-sama instructed her, a single breath in, a clang of metal upon one another before separating, a breath let out, a breath in, two clangs sounding, a breath out. Like always whenever this training occurred, she lost herself in the calm of their spar, letting her instincts take over for the most part as she had in the beginning since a few months prior.

She savored the calm and rings of metal with a bliss-filled smile and slightly closed eyes, before she was abruptly removed from the rapture with a single hard blow.

Her smile brightened just a miniscule amount, Otou-sama's blade sliding along her own's length, a simultaneous clack whispering through the night air as both father and daughter moved away from the other, swords moving from one-handed grasps back to the normal two as they came to a rest. Then without any given signal, they closed again and descended into the calm yet again,

She felt a wound wrench itself open, followed by another as she deflected Otou-sama's aggressive strikes with a bit of effort, a small red blotch appeared on the fabric at her right shoulder and left hip, she paid it no heed and continued with the practice. A semi-successful deflection sent her father's blade far off to the side at the cost of another slash mark etching itself into her left side, only a few centimeters above her reopened wound, but the cost was worth it as the move allowed her to make a single counterattack.

Her attack was easily deflected away, but it allowed her to take the offensive for a while, specifically only three and a half strokes before Otou-sama swung into her developing swing, and thus did the dance begin again, a dance that would last until the clocks chimed nine times.

In not quite perfect sync they brought their swords to rest, and then their swords were at their side as they bowed to one another, a bright smile on Nanoha's face while Otou-sama had a small smile on his own. Otou-sama as usual sported no cuts, either on his skin or his own kendogi, she fared only a little worse off compared to him, a total of 5 small cuts, two on her left arm, the one at the side, one larger one across her back and a vertical line etching itself from her chest to the tip of her shoulder.

"You are getting better, Nanoha. Perhaps you'll manage to beat me before you get your actual sword." She beamed under the praise and challenge Otou-sama gave her, joy coming to the forefront of her while she smashed any sense of pride she gained. Takamachi were never proud of their skills. With those words said, Otou-sama went over to a small desk littered with maintenance supplies, one which she also went to wish a skip in her step.

It was probably bad that she hardly registered the wounds at all, it didn't matter much to her though, little cuts like those would heal by the morning with nothing more than bandages and a bit of disinfectant. Her body ran on autopilot for the minute she thought and observed, cleaning the blade with oil, paper and cloth as she had countless times before, after so long it was a instinctual habit that Otou-sama approved of, one that he himself as well as Onee-sama and Onii-sama had ingrained in them.

Otou-sama had said that she would be among the youngest of their family to get her blade. She wouldn't be the youngest, that honor belonged to one of her distant ancestors who was an accomplished swordmaster at her age and had earned his blade three years before she would, though that was likely due to it being the Sengoku period.

Still, she was the first in almost a century to have earned her blade before her first decade had come to pass, and that gave her a bit of pride that almost immediately was quashed, pride had no meaning to those of the Takamachi line. That was the first rule Otou-sama had taught her, and it was reinforced each and every spar they had. Pride was for the samurai and soldiers, it was not for the bodyguards, shinobi and assassins, such was the fact of their occupation and history, Otou-sama had learned that the hard way when Okaa-sama was killed.

She continued to think until she finished her cleaning, putting away the two cloths and oil back on the desk before gently sheathing her blade, standing and making her way back to the spot on the wall that would always hold the sword, placing it back in its proper place. Before she walked out of the dojo to get cleaned up herself, she noticed that Otou-sama had already left sometime in her musings and cleaning, not that it was unexpected.

Walking out, she closed the screen to the dojo and started heading back to the house, looking from the porch to see if there was anything that needed to be addressed around the building before nodding to herself and beginning the walk back. The moment she reached the grass though, she lingered, looking up at the night sky and seeing the little stars gleaming dimly in the darkness, the moon looking rather sleepy hanging above the buildings in the distance.

She looked away after a few minutes of simply basking in the pale light and walked quietly through the house, taking the time to go to the bathroom and wash up, then mend her torn clothes to the best of her… rather poor ability. Onii-sama was much better at it then her or Onee-sama, which was rather amusing. Lastly she changed her bandages again, and as the clock chimed ten times, she made her way into her room, curled up under her few covers and promptly went to sleep.

It was a normal day, it would be one of the last normal days for a while.

* * *

" _Please… Help me!"_

And of course, she would immediately be woken up by the strange voice from the night before, one again asking for help, only this time they were asking for her to help specifically. So immediately upon becoming awake, she threw off her covers, dressed herself in her home clothing, and rushed over to the dojo as quietly as she could so as to not disturb her finally, and quickly ran off in the direction of the voice, towards the veterinarian's office.

Shortly upon arriving in the area she heard a very high-pitched chime that hurt her ears, followed by all the color being muted to grey, except strangely herself, and the ferret that just jumped out the window after a crash… and some black… foggy… thing with antennae came rushing after it, only to hit a tree and get stuck under it. And somehow she found the ferret in her right hand, it felt strangely appropriate to just talk out loud then, "I have no idea what's going on…"

"You came for me?" …Why not have the ferret talking, after the black… thing… she was a bit numb to 'shock'. If such a thing existed, why not a talking animal? Either way, she looked down for a moment, simply stating blankly with a somewhat strained smile, "You talk." before immediately bolting out of the yard around the office and into the streets.

They ran, or she ran with the ferret in hand to be precise, and she repeated what she had first said, with the ferret explaining the situation… somewhat. "You have talent." She looked down and tilted her head in question at the last word, not really wanting to speak and waste energy that would probably be useful to keep for running. It looked up, saw the question in her expression and continued on with whatever explanation was this was.

"I came here from another world, in order to search for a certain something." … That did not help at all to understand what was going on, but she looked up to continue running and not trip herself due to a lapse of concentration. The Ferret continued talking after a pause, hopefully he would actually answer her this time. "But I'm not able to fulfill that goal with my own powers alone."

Was it… asking if she'd take a job for it? "So, I know this will be a burden on you, but I want a person with talent to help me." Yes he was… well, Takamachi never declined a job unless they were already on one. With a start, the ferret started moving in her hands, causing her to stop before it jumped to the ground, turning around on landing and facing her. "I will reward you, I'll make sure to no matter what happens!"

Her smile twitched slightly in amusement, all jobs had a reward proportional to their difficulty, and saying that he would pay her later meant she had the freedom to tell her price when this was over. That was… unexpected. The ferret must be young if he was making that mistake.

With that said, though it was a bit rushed and cryptic, which was somewhat expected given circumstances, her first job would be helping to collect some item or items for a 'magic' ferret. That would be an interesting tale to talk about after all was done regardless of what happened.

Before the ferret had a chance to continue, whatever it was that they were fleeing from somehow _flew_ and crashed directly into the ground in front of them… it's magic, you don't question magic, you can hate it or curse it later, but you never question it. Without any warning the ferret tossed her the jewel around its neck which she caught on instinct, strangely warm and glittering a bright pink, while saying, "Hold it, close your eyes, and open your heart. Repeat after me."

She gave a nod, though quickly became confused as to why the thing hadn't gotten up and attacked them yet… maybe it was stuck like with the tree? Who knew, and now wasn't the time to dwell on such things, two voices rang out softly, one following the other within barely a few seconds between them,

"Grant me power, so that my duty may be done. Sing for the world. Darkness engulfing the deep, Light bathing the sky. Unfurl your wings and take flight. Guide this blade, wielder of Magic and Steel… Razing Heart, wake up!"

And then she was in the center of a pink beam of light that apparently was piercing the clouds above, and both the ferret and thing were shocked, or the thing was still stuck, with the ferret regaining its composure and calling out to her, "Now imagine yourself a weapon to channel your magic, and armor to protect you!" … Umm…

Well… the 'armor' was easy enough to think of, a white kimono with detached red sleeves that went to just above her hands bound together with rope, little blue flowers dotting both with wild abandon, a black hakama dotted with pink flowers and no shoes or sandals. Being without shoes or sandals was impractical, but she enjoyed being without them and frankly, magic should help out. The wand though… oh… who said she needed to make one?

With a quickness a child her age shouldn't have possessed, she half-drew her sword from its sheathe and brought her left hand holding the pulsing jewel directly next to the blade, quickly and firmly forcing the jewel into the metal. Strangely for some reason, the grey steel turned white as the last of the black-red jewel sunk in somehow, the handle turning to pink cloth over a dull gold wood from the original black on brown.

… She would never describe what happened after she inserted the jewel, only saying simply that she changed clothes from what she had been wearing to what she imagined on the spot without any warning or consent. Her eyes took a very hard gleam and her smile almost dropped to a thin line as she turned to the ferret for a moment, said animal freezing the moment he looked at her, before her smile returned after a deep breath in and out.

The thing came out of its daze and tried to pounce on her while she was breathing, but she simply side-stepped it moments before it came down to smash her, with her sword flashing out a bit faster than she was used to. What happened next was … for lack of better word, the thing imploding on itself somehow after a quick and loud shriek of pain that sent pieces of itself flying as shrapnel.

She backed away from where the creature once stood something telling her that it wouldn't die the same way a normal animal or human would, and whatever it was confirmed not only by it reforming, but also by the ferret stating as such. "It's a thought entity, created from one of the items I'm seeking. To stop it you have to seal it inside your weapon."

"How do I seal it?" Her question was asked shortly after the ferret was done explaining, the creature having reformed halfway back to what it had been before it imploded by the time she stopped speaking, her blade having moved to have the hilt by her head, blade pointing downward and edge up.

He, the ferret had sounded like a he so she would refer to him as such unless told otherwise, answered just as quickly as she asked "To use magic at higher levels you have to use spells. To get the spell to work, you need to find an incantation in your heart that resonates with you." She took her time, stilling herself and trusting her instincts to see her through as her eyes closed for the few moments it would take to find her words.

Faintly she heard the thing's roar and the lumbering gait it somehow had despite being without visible legs, her body stepping forward and sword swing out into a block against something, a whisper barely heard but not understood, as she finally found the words she was looking for.

"Ensnare and choke."

She opened her eyes and beheld the thing only a few meters ahead, the remnants of something of it fluttering down in front of her. Her blade came to rest in front of her, and from the little black and red jewel sitting only a few centimeters above the guard came several streamer-like pieces of pink light, that darted through the air towards the thing. When they reached the creature, they twisted around its form and bound it, whereupon she rushed forward with her sword nearly scraping the ground.

Vaguely she saw the roman numeral XXI appear on its forehead, but she paid it no mind, once more stating brightly, "Ensnare and choke." before adding on to it with things she knew she was probably something instinctual within the jewel she was given, "Jewel Seed, Serial 21, Seal!"

The blade came back, and she dashed forward with a speed she knew wasn't hers, slashing horizontally as she passed and hearing the creature roar in pain, then roaring again as something else tore into it. For whatever reason, it felt… 'right' to flick her blade to the side as if something was coating it before turning around to find it simply gone… leaving only something sparkling within the ruptured pavement.

She waited for the ferret to tell her what to do next, which came swiftly "That is a Jewel Seed. Touch it with Razing Heart to seal it." The name he gave for the object seemed appropriate as it did somewhat look like a seed and it glimmered like a jewel. She didn't really do anything for this part, it just… sort of happened automatically. Which was fine thing since she had no idea what she was even supposed to have done during that other than a vague 'touch it with Razing Heart'.

Once the little seed had managed to reach and be absorbed by the jewel in her sword, a machine-like monotone whispered in her ear, calmly stating ' _Receipt: No. XXI.'_ before dying away into silence a moment before she was enveloped again in a layer of pink light. Thankfully it left her with her original clothing when it faded, as well as leaving Razing Heart in her right hand and her sword back to normal in her other, so she sheathed the latter without any further thoughts. "It's over."

It was a statement rather than a question, softly spoken yet loud enough for the ferret to hear, at which point he gave a relieved reply "Yes… all thanks to you. Thank you…", before falling to his side as what she assumed his prior injuries finally caught up. She crouched down to make sure he was alright before she heard sirens starting up… and immediately came to the conclusion that it was time to leave, and leave quickly.

So, after gently picking up the ferret, she bolted from the area, her smile turning smaller and somewhat sheepish as she left when she noticed the damage caused by the creature… and herself… not stopping until the sirens had dulled to almost nothing. She did not want to be thrown in jail for a misunderstanding… somewhat of a misunderstanding, Otou-sama would kill her if she was caught after this, especially since it wasn't even her fault. … Mostly.

She and the ferret found themselves in the middle of the woods in some park by the time the sirens faded away, which one she had no idea since they all looked the same to her, herself only now noticing where they were and letting her smile turn gentle at the sight of so many trees and grass. "I'm sorry." She blinked twice before looking down at the little ferret and giving him a smile as she continued walking through the forest, getting lost somehow wasn't possible for her when it came to forests, so she was free to wander for however long she liked while they talked.

"Did you have a nice nap little ferret? Are you still hurt?" Her first question was answered with a simple nod, while the second was answered by with a simple 'I'm not' and shaking off the bandages to reveal he was physically fine… That ability or 'spell' would be quite nice to have considering how much she tended to get hurt with Otou-sama in practice, she'd have to remember to ask him about it when it came time for payment.

It was probably time to introduce herself to him, given that he was technically her employer since she had accepted his request for help and he promised her payment. That wasn't even mentioning the fact that she was taking him home now in the off-chance there was another thing that went after him, it wouldn't do to get contracted only for the employer to die. "I'm Takamachi Nanoha, my services are yours until the contract is done."

The little ferret blinked once, then twice before shaking his head lightly, probably to clear his head or similar, his response being a simple introduction of "I am Yuuno Scrya." Afterwards he bowed his head and once more gave an apology of "I'm sorry for dragging you into this.", at which point she held him up to look her in the face before tapping him on the forehead and letting out a little laugh.

She didn't give that last part any verbal response, not when she was full of happiness for getting her first job already, simply continuing to wander until she felt it was long enough for them to safely return home. Casually she walked through the dark woods until finally reaching the compound, passing through the gate and entering the lightless home without hesitation, then finally making her way through the three corridors needed back to her room.

Entering the dark room that she called her own, she immediately shed her clothing except for the bandages set around pretty much all of her body besides her forearms, lower legs, and neck before changing into some basic white nightwear. After she was finished, she sat on the edge of her bed, watching as Scrya-san ran around the room trying to find somewhere to sleep himself, before she went back under the covers and let herself sleep for the second time tonight.

* * *

Otou-sama said nothing about Scrya-san when he came to collect her the next morning and saw him lying on top of her dresser, even when the latter woke up at the sound of her dressing and saw a few of her scars. Scrya-san hadn't said anything about them, though had look… 'disturbed' by them, even though he likely should have seen them last night, but he'd come along to watch morning training with Otou-sama.

The training started as it always did, with her and Otou-sama each grabbing a bokken and starting at rest before moving on into their routine, Otou-sama following her for once which was somewhat strange compared to their usual, but she paid it no mind, it was just a distraction from her practice.

And then her Otou-sama spoke and she almost stumbled once the words registered, key being almost since she caught herself and kept going, "Was your excursion last night fruitful, Nanoha?"

She said nothing for a moment, thinking over the question before deciding to reply honestly. It was better to confess if Otou-sama knew something, it was less trouble for her and she likely would get some useful piece of advice out of it, Otou-sama had a lot of advice to give from his many jobs. "It was Otou-sama, I retrieved Scrya and killed the creature that wounded him. It looked like a big fox."

Otou-sama simply nodded once as Scrya-san looked over at her strangely, she paid the magic ferret no heed for the moment, she needed her full attention to deal with Otou-sama. Speaking of… she just now noticed something out of place as she looked past Otou-sama, or rather missing from the wall. "I forgot to put it back since I was so tired…"

Once more Otou-sama simply nodded his head, though a small smile was adorning his face as she came to the realization, himself stopping his routine to look over at her as his smile faded back to a thin line, "Are you certain that was the _only_ reason you took the sword?"

At this point she stopped her own set and turned to stare at her Otou-sama, bowing lightly before straightening to her full, very unimposing height, taking a light breath and stating simply, "You told me to never be outside in the dark without a weapon of some kind to protect myself Otou-sama. I just followed your advice and it saved Scrya and myself from the fox."

He gave a light laugh for some reason, something which unnerved her a bit before he clarified the reason for his laughter with a blank voice, "If I didn't know your tells, I wouldn't know better that you were hiding something from me…" For a few moments Otou-sama was silent, which gave her small amount of time to lessen her smile somewhat as she tried to think about what 'tells' she had… She'd need to fix that.

Otou-sama finished his impromptu silence without any actual reaction gracing him, instead simply continuing exactly where he left off. "Very well, I will not pry and should whatever it is need you to take your temporary weapon with you, you have my blessing to take it, so long as you don't get caught."

Her smile grew a tad bit brighter before she ran and hugged her Otou-sama tightly, something he didn't reciprocate, before backing off and putting her practice sword away in its spot. She ran out with a spring in her step, followed shortly by a frantic Scrya-san outside, across the yard with a happy smile and into the house again, through the hallways again and back into her room.

She quickly and efficiently changed out of her current clothing and took a swift shower then put on her school uniform, set her hair into a single side ponytail before putting on new bandages. Upon becoming done with those morning rituals, she moved out of her room to begin her chores with gusto normally absent from her, followed faithfully by the still-frantic Scrya-san trying to keep up.

Scrya-san was very tired by the end of those chores, having run himself ragged trying to keep up., it was slightly amusing, and she didn't keep it out of her smile and she picked him up and headed over to the breakfast table. It took a while for everyone else to arrive, but she spent that time content to bask in her current mood.

Onee-sama was the first to arrive, immediately walking over and commenting on Scrya-san the moment she saw him after arriving, gently picking him up and holding him out to look at him, uncaring for any discomfort she was unintentionally causing. "He's quite cute, Kaa-sama would have loved to hold him. Even if she accidently was too rough." After a little bit longer of holding Scrya-san, Onee-sama put him down on the table, before walking over to the kitchen and started cooking, without anything else said or done.

Otou-sama and Onii-sama both didn't react at all to Scrya-san's presence when they walked in and took their seat, though Onii-sama did look between her still her happy mood and Scrya-san still dazed from Onee-sama for a moment before simply shaking his head. Onii-sama took a moment to look her in the eye and catch her attention before stating, "Nanoha, please make sure to keep your 'ward' well-treated. It would look bad on you to promise to take care of something, only to fail in taking care of it."

She gave a nod of acknowledgment before turning to regard Onee-sama as she placed the meal before them with a gentle smile and took her place at Onii-sama's side. Then with the customary blessing, they began the meal, and it proceeded as normal.

Once again, she was the first one finished and after saying another goodbye, walked along to the bus, calmly listening to Scrya-san explain several things about the Jewel Seeds from the safety of her room as she waited for the bus, examining the little gem he had gifted to her last night as he did. " _Jewels Seeds are ancient treasures to my people, named as a set of Lost Logia for the power they contain in them. They were just magic stones at one point, capable of granting wishes for their owners, only in an erratic method."_

" _Occasionally they'll go berserk on their own, and cause damage to the environment while they search for a new user. In addition, they'll also be accidently used by a random bystander or animal that happens to find them."_ She didn't say anything in response to that… mostly because she was still trying to grasp how to actually send messages via 'telepathy'. Unsurprisingly the thing was rather hard, especially since the ferret had forgotten to tell her how.

"… _I'm sorry for involving you Nanoha. As soon as I get strong enough, I'll return to hunting the rest of the twenty-one and leave you alone._ " It was a bit… annoying to have him apologize for getting her involved and then try and _leave_ her after she had accepted the contract, well that wouldn't happen. A Takamachi had never failed a job yet in the six centuries they had existed, and she wouldn't be the first because of her employer simply up and leaving to continue on his own.

Thankfully, she thought she could reliably use the 'telepathy' that Scrya-san was using to talk to her, which she immediately tried to cut him off from making another apology, and apparently succeeded in doing if him cutting himself off was an indication. " _I won't allow that. The contract is set and until it is fulfilled I will not leave you alone in your task. I won't tarnish our reputation simply because you walked away before the job was finished, Scrya-san._ "

He didn't give a response to that for a long while, and so she continued on with a last sentence before quieting for a while, " _And even if I'm not good right now, you can teach me to use magic as you said you would in payment."_ He gave a soft agreement before leaving her to her own devices, shortly before the bus proceeded to drive up, and another day of school began without any incident so far.

* * *

School went just like it did yesterday, and every other day before then, had gone, she did well in every class besides language, she and Arisa-chan tussled while Suzuka-chan tried to get them to stop unsuccessfully, and they ended school without anything noteworthy.

It took little time for her to return home given no one came this way unless they were leaving town, with her just entering the house before another high-pitched chime sounded through her head, immediately making her run through the halls yet again to her room and enter. Just as fast as she'd entered the room, she made the decision not to change to her other set of clothing in her haste and simply took her katana and Scrya-san with her.

She did wrap the sword in a random piece cloth to hopefully fool others on what it was, it wouldn't do for someone to call the police on her just because she had a sword in her hand. The result was patchwork, but it was the best she could do given the lack of time and resources she had at her disposal, hopefully it would serve her enough this one time before she found something to replace it.

Pretty much she followed Scrya-san to the site of where the Jewel Seed was located, garnering a few looks because of the long object almost her height held in her hands and seemingly chasing after a ferret through the outskirts of town, but thankfully no one saw fit to stop her. The two of them went up a long flight of stone steps leading to… she thought it was a temple… there was torii at the top so she thought it was likely that. What they found at the top of the flight of steps was something that would likely haunt her for a time, and judging by Scry-san's reaction, him as well.

There was a black, wolf-like or panther-like thing with four red eyes, two tusks, two red antler-like growths and two blue orb like growths above its eyes ripping apart a woman's corpse, its muzzle stained red and blood dripping onto the stone. The creature paused in its meal to look at them with murderous intent, growling and starting to ready itself as she untied the cloth from around her sheathe.

As soon as the cloth was off, she drew her sword from its sheathe, and dropped the sheathe to the ground, causing it to clatter against the stones and startle Scrya-san from his stupor as Razing Heart found itself in her hands. "How do I get it to work again?"

A low growl carried over from the creature, a paw moving forward and narrowly avoiding crushing the corpse into paste, its teeth bared as Scrya-san spoke as deathly calm as he could given the situation. "Say the boot up spell, starting at 'I am the one who has been given a mission'." The wolf/panther-like jewel seed began padding forward the moment he finished speaking, continuing to growl with bloody teeth bared before suddenly bolting forward with an unexpected quickness given its size…

She wouldn't have time to say the full spell like before… so she just rammed Razing Heart into her sword and called out the last line in the hope it would work. "Razing Heart, wake up!" Quickly she positioned her rapidly shifting katana in a block, instinct guiding her more than actual thought before she was sent flying by creature down the steps, skidding to a stop just as it leapt from under the torii towards her, vaguely hearing Scrya-san yell something about armor… not the priority currently.

This time she brought up her sword deliberately, watching the beast for a second before side-stepping as fast as she could out of its path, barely managing to avoid one of its claws cutting her shoulder as it passed. A pink light engulfed her for a few seconds before fading, leaving her with her 'armor' as it faded, another side-step made as it tried to jump again, this time though her blade swung out and elicited blood from it, sending it crashing down at her side before it struggled to get back to its feet.

She decided to do something rather… uncalled for as it came close to getting back to its feet, she walked up to the Jewel Seed, reared back her fist and punched it back into the ground. The action hurt far too much to be anywhere remotely effective, but it served as a distraction long enough for her to call the ribbons out again and tangle it.

"Ensnare and choke, Jewel Seed, Serial 16, Seal." Only instead of like last night, she held her blade in reverse and raised it above the creature's head, now sporting the numeral XVI on its forehead, the thing giving a half-hearted growl at its predicament a moment before she plunged the blade through it. The beast went still, then fell limp to the ground as it began to disappear and leave behind the jewel… and a corgi still impaled on her blade whimpering weakly…

Gently she took her blade out of the little thing, moving it a few centimeters to hover over its neck before plunging downwards again, ending the suffering corgi quickly and with as little pain as she could.

She flicked as much of the blood off as she could, not really reacting much beyond her smile being sad, before walking back up the steps to the cloth and scabbard left at the top of the steps next to Scrya-san. Gingerly she picked up the former and wiped the remainder of the liquid off her sword before sheathing it and covering both in the now blood-stained flower-print of white and pink.

Calmly she placed the bundle against her right shoulder and started to leave the area, Scrya-san bounding up her clothing until he reached her shoulder, it would be better not be around when someone eventually found the sight behind her. Knowing how people would overreact, they'd blame her for what happened, and trying to explain 'magic' wouldn't be… a good defense.

A sigh left her for a moment, the ferret looking at her from his place, before she simply shook her head and continued walking calmly down the stairs. A hollow-feeling smile crept into place and stayed there until she returned home, whereupon it became lively again. She'd tell Otou-sama during nightly practice about what had happened, but otherwise she would keep that event to herself, Onee-sama and Onii-sama already worried enough…

* * *

Two days later saw her learning… or rather trying to learn how to fly… she had found a second thing she was quite terrible at… Apparently, she was so terrible that Scrya-san was shocked… which made her… somewhat ashamed since it was her thirty-seventh try…

She was a bit bruised and battered, having been thrown into a few trees and been 'exploded' for lack of better word by her failures to fly, thankfully it didn't hurt as much since she had tried to make herself a bit tougher… it somewhat worked? All she did was circulate mana through her body, centered mostly in her skeleton and skin to increase their density and harden respectively, she'd really only know if it worked well when it came time to use it in a fight.

Now the reason she was learning flight… yesterday… yesterday was supposed to be a relaxing day at the pool with Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, Suzuka-chan's Onee-chan, Onee-sama, and Onii-sama … instead a Jewel Seed decided to show up and ruin it for them… That Jewel Seed had gained her 'anger' rather easily because of what it had been doing…

She blew up again from the lapse in concentration, Scrya-san twitching as she broke through yet another tree in her failure, needless to say she didn't like that Seed very much, especially since she couldn't hit it properly with her sword due to it being made of water… Quietly she mumbled "Stupid… perverted… Seed…" before getting back up and walking back to where Scrya-san was quietly thinking and muttering to himself. She was quickly becoming frustrated with her lack of progress, so she tried to make the spell in a slightly different manner, only to gain the result of it not happening again… "Isn't there any other spell for flight Scrya-san?"

She looked over in time to see him shake his head lightly, making her turn a little crestfallen before perking up as he clarified a moment later, "That's the Midchildan system's version of the flight spell, however I don't know any of the other systems' version of flight. Your issue with it may stem simply from Flier Fin not being compatible for you. You may have to just make your own at the rate your failing though."

She gave a nod at the last part, from what he had just said and her current failures, it would appear she would be making her own version of flight… She had a feeling this would either go extremely well or she would be hurting for the rest of the day from the result of this… no sense wasting time though.

So first she had to try and visualize what she was wanting, or at the least have a very clear thought of what she wanted as was the case in her currently unnamed defensive spell, since intent and 'wishing' was what made things happen in 'magic'. That was simple enough, just her standing on air was fine, actual flying wasn't that big of a deal to her.

Next was also simple, simply channel mana to what felt like the natural point to make the spell work, the case for this one probably being to let it pool at the soles of her feet. The third and last was to try and make it work… please let this work… and so she jumped up, and immediately felt her feet touch something the moment she should have sunk back to the ground.

Looking down saw her standing on thin air and Scrya-san looking up in shock again, only a barely noticeable ripple appearing from the lowest point of her foot signaling anything that she was standing on… something… probably mana. Her smile brightened at _finally_ being capable of 'flight', before one of her feet failed her in standing while the other tried to compensate… Needless to say she went flying into the upper branches of one tree again.

Well… she should have considered the possibility that both options would happen as well as neither… it was too late to consider seeing as she was now stuck in a tree… The pain from her accident finally set in as she tried to climb out of the tree, a dull ache going through almost all of her body before she got out and hit the ground with a thud. She had the restraint to not let out a groan of pain, instead just getting back up and checking over herself, noticing a few areas that were slowly bruising over through the bandages.

Well, the good news was at the very least she knew how to 'fly'… even if it wasn't fine-tuned just yet, she had the time today to practice this and the other spell she wanted to make, she wasn't needed for anything today except nightly practice much later.

And so went her day, spent refining her 'flight', trying to make a spell to gather mana together in order to strengthen her strikes before moving on to practice her swordsmanship. The only time she stopped was to go eat lunch with Otou-sama, Onee-sama and Onii-sama, which was a nice, calm affair with nothing happening beyond the usual.

Four Seeds were currently sealed, another seventeen to go from what Scrya-san had said and her first job would be complete. Otou-sama would be so proud of her when she told him she had finished a job already and got a practical payment, hopefully Otou-sama would give her another smile and then praise her for doing good.


	2. Conception II

_AN: For a visual representation of this Nanoha's flight spell, should you not be able to imagine it from my descriptions, both before, during and after this chapter, look up Miyu Edelfelt and watch her use her flight spell, it is quite similar in nature to that. Now a disclaimer, and then enjoy._

 _Amount of Hugs needed: 1,528 [(6865+8417)/10 - Round up]_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 242_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

She was quite used to being without much sleep, a normal night's rest for her was roughly only about five hours. Yet even still, that didn't mean that she could go without much more sleep, her normal schedule pushed it to the limits as it was.

That was the main reason as to why she was currently dragging her weapon behind her rather than placing it back into the sheathe as she was supposed to… that and her head wasn't thinking quickly enough to register that she should even be putting it away. To be honest as well, the scraping sounded quite relaxing, especially when it skipped every once in a while from the uneven ground, she would have to…

And that was when she fell face-first into the ground, she barely made out Scrya-san's voice asking "Nanoha! Are you alright?" Her only response was a yawn into the pavement before she picked herself back up and continued walking, or rather stumbling, back home. The last Jewel Seed she'd fought was easy, much easier than the previous ones, barely putting up a fight by the time she had sealed it.

That said it was more akin to the first one rather than the second or third ones, so that was kind of expected.

She would be so glad that tomorrow was Sunday, she'd be allowed to rest once morning exercises were over and the only reason she would need to leave would be to go with Onee-sama to get groceries for the coming week if she needed assistance… Oh wait there was the game for Otou-sama's team tomorrow, the one he had been working with for almost two years now… There went resting the day away… well it was probably best that she did something rather than sleep all day.

Either way, sleep beckoned… it was already past midnight, at the current time she would only get two hours of sleep before Otou-sama came to collect her… Oh this was not going to be a good morning…

* * *

… She made far too many mistakes the next morning, Otou-sama actually had a frown rather than a neutral face when he watched her perform her routine, which made her quite… depressed… especially so soon after Otou-sama had smiled at her… At least after that realization she had managed to run through the routine perfectly without a single miniscule mistake, that at least made Otou-sama return to giving a blank look rather than the frown.

Her chores were completed swiftly, seeing as she chose one of the _easier_ chores to do that morning, 'easier' meaning that it was just quicker to do rather than easy, but that mattered little. Just from completing it quickly, she was allowed to go back to her room to rest and catch up on much needed sleep before Otou-sama's team played.

She was out and asleep instantly, only to wake up just as fast.

At the very least she felt better even if her sleep was only for an hour going by the hall clock's time, she would get to nap a bit more later after breakfast was made, and then after she would become awake again and watch Otou-sama's team play… even if she'd rather rest more… Haa… that line of thinking would get her nowhere, especially since she had promised to watch them when one of them had asked her… she thought it was the goalie but she could have been mistaken.

Either way she wouldn't break a promise, those were just as binding as any contract made, once again she sighed as she got up from her bedding, dressing again in her home clothing while Scrya-san looked away, and walking towards breakfast.

Onee-sama and Onii-sama were slightly worried about her tiredness but didn't ask about it again after the last time. Otou-sama had asked her how her job was going two dinners ago and had managed to quell them, mostly Onii-sama really, when they argued that she was far too young to accept a job.

Otou-sama was so nice to her when it came to the family business, maybe it was because she had a resemblance to Okaa-sama? ...No Otou-sama wouldn't let the past clutch him in its embrace, there was a reason that the murderers of Okaa-sama weren't assassinated within a single night… then again Otou-sama did call a few favors in and ruin that family in every way besides killing…

What did it really matter right now anyway to think about such things, today was for relaxation and rest, not a day to dwell on things related to business… maybe after the game she could do a bit of sword practice and then nap a bit after, that would be nice.

Now… how to pass the time until the time came for them to leave? Maybe she could ask Scrya-san for more information about magic, or what the place he came from was like… maybe…

* * *

Well, she did manage to get Scrya-san to explain a bit more about magic to her, mainly everything he spoke about was for what he called the Midchildan system, though there were a few things that were generalized between systems from what he explained. There were barriers and shields that protected the user or the surrounding the area and allies, there were binds and cages, which did as the names implied and sometimes had additional effects.

Augments and auxiliary spells also were used, the first improving some aspect of the user passively and rarely turning off, auxiliary simply being spells that were used to somehow aid the user in some fashion, whether it be for flight, searching, sealing or something else entirely. The former was more of a rarity in the Midchildan system considering their way of using magic in combat, that of using ranged spells, either the simpler 'shooting' spells or the more complex and destructive 'bombardment' spells, while the latter was more… specialized.

Combat-wise there were two ways of going about, as there was in most forms of combat, those two being ranged and melee. Both of those were sub-divided into different categories, ranged being 'shooting', 'area-of-effect', some cases of 'energy blade' and 'bombardment' spells, melee being simply 'melee', 'energy blade' and 'magic-enhanced' spells.

How melee was its own kind of spell was something to ask about latter, since she was solely focused on absorbing the knowledge Scrya-san gave given, even if it was just a short summary of them since Scrya-san knew little of combat spells beyond common knowledge and rarely actually used them, he himself said he was more of support mage than a combatant.

Besides the summary was enough, 'shooting' shot basic magic at foes, 'energy blade' made magic blades as the name implied, 'area-of-effect' attacked wide amounts of area, 'bombardment' were more punishing versions of 'shooting', 'magic-enhanced' did as implied as did 'melee'.

Soon enough though, the impromptu lesson came to an end as the clock chimed a single time, letting her know that her time to leave was now. So after wrapping her blade in its cloth, since she had thought of no other way to even try and hide it, she along with Scrya-san left her room. Otou-sama was waiting for her at the entrance to the house with a bag around his shoulder, giving a glance at the bundle in her hands before he nodded minutely and walked through the gate.

She followed after him quickly, neither her nor him saying a word as they walked along the streets, each having their customary expressions up and causing everyone they walked past shy away from them. With the fast walk they took, it didn't take long for them to reach the field where the match would occur, and it wasn't surprising that they were early given they'd left earlier than they actually needed to with not a single soul around, there was still an hour left before they were even supposed to be arriving.

They only had to wait a half-hour for Otou-sama's team to arrive, the boys except one all being loud and cheerful, the single one that wasn't was only silent yet still had happiness, and when he looked over at her he had a faint color in his face and looked away when she looked his way… that was strange. Otou-sama got a ball out from the bag he had brought along and rolled it over to one of the other children, letting them run around and practice in the time before the match was set to start.

She wasn't interested in watching them play around, but the amount of time she had before the game would start wasn't enough to get an explanation from Scrya-san… at least she could muse a bit about several of the things she was told earlier in that time.

She had no want of ever being in a fight that was long-range, and so she would probably never make a single 'shooting' or 'bombardment' spell if she could help it. 'Area-of-effect' spells on the other hand would probably be good to have least one of since from what few of those Scrya-san had explained about were centered around the caster.

Honestly speaking, she'd likely focus more on a close-combat style of fighting rather than utilizing ranged attacks. It just didn't feel right to try and use something she knew nothing about after having spent so long in the company of her blade, even her first spell, if it could even be called one helped in that regard.

She hadn't named it, though she thought she heard a whisper in her head whenever she activated it. It was probably just a figment of her imagination, she would ask Scrya-san about her jewel another time, but regardless of that she'd likely make a few more spells in a similar manner to her singular one, the only thing though that stood out was her lacking strength, as the last _actual_ battle showed.

Out of the three types of melee spells she had access to, she'd likely be making spells for 'magic-enhanced' and 'energy blade' rather than 'melee', she was more of a swordsman than a brawler after all. With that said she'd very likely would make one or two 'melee' spells in the off-chance she lost her weapon, better prepared than not after all.

Moving on from combat, she'd have to learn how to make a shield at some point, how it was going to work, she had no idea at this point, but that and her flight spell were going to be the priority in her making of spells right now…

Her flight spell… it was… decent enough…

…That was a lie… it was going poorly aside from she could get it to actually work for up to a quarter of a minute at most currently without moving, and it tended to fail before ten seconds went by if she was moving. All she really knew was it _would_ work, she just needed time and lots of practice… maybe more than lots at her rate of progress after three days…

She left her thoughts abruptly at the sound of more noise approaching, her head turning minutely to note the arrival of the other team before trying to put together what time it was… it should be a few minutes before the game was to begin so there would be a little warm-up before then.

Hmm… Her attention was brought to Scrya-san as he shuffled in her lap a bit, he had seemingly taken an interest in the sport from the way he was watching the game. Either that, or he was at just watching the other children play the game with intense focus and curiosity, though since he didn't say anything about it she didn't say anything in turn, if he wanted to ask she would answer him, if not it didn't matter really.

Finally it came time for the game to begin, and so she turned her attention to the game she had no interest in, keeping the smile on her face even as boredom dulled her eyes. O? Her smile grew brighter as she gave a wave at her two approaching friends, two very different waves given in turn before they came over.

Well, at least she wouldn't be bored if Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan were here, even if she didn't know why exactly they were here.

* * *

It was a decent game after everything was done, Otou-sama's team had won three to nothing, the goalie managing to keep every shot made at his net, something like five shots which was somewhat interesting and made the boredom somewhat fade, but only barely. Otou-sama had congratulated his team with a simple 'Good job.' making his entire team happy, before both teams and their coaches gave the other side a bow.

Regardless of the outcome, Otou-sama liked to show respect to those he fought against, even in little games like this, and it appeared to rub off on his team.

If there was one thing to ease her disappointment on missing out on sleep and being forced to come, it was the fact that Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan had enjoyed it, even if they had arrived a bit late. The only thing of concern was the way Arisa-chan was handling Scrya-san though… she may need to rescue him before some lasting damage happened by accident.

Otou-sama liked to treat his team and any student of his that performed exceptionally with a reward of some kind depending on the occasion, in the current case that was simply a meal at a local café, it didn't apply to either her, Arisa-chan or Suzuka-chan but it didn't matter much. They went along anyway since she was staying with Otou-sama all day, and Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan were staying since they had nothing else to do… and Arisa-chan didn't like being at her home.

Somewhere between fifteen minutes and thirty were spent at that café, which ended with Arisa-chan now amusing herself with Scrya-san while Suzuka-chan watched sheepishly, she gave a quick apology to Scrya-san when she noticed the… treatment her friend was giving. " _Sorry Scrya-san… Arisa-chan doesn't know how be gentle that well…"_

" _Ahh… it's al-right. She hasn't hurt me or anything... Though I am getting rather uncomfortable…"_ Her apology was brushed off a bit hesitantly, which she didn't really understand, but she acquiesced to him on the subject for the moment. With that said, it was a 'duty' of hers to protect her client, so after a while she spoke up, causing both her friends and Scrya-san to look at her. "Arisa-chan, can I have Scrya-san back now?"

Arisa-chan pouted for a moment before holding Scrya-san up to the sky, which he was not at all ready for given his immediate reaction was to flail about for a moment, before she nodded her head and smiled. "Alright Nanoha-chan." And with that she was handed Scrya-san back, who immediately scurried to her shoulder, shook himself for a second and laid down, then Arisa-chan decided to continue in a cheery note. "

A few moments after Arisa-chan finished talking, all of Otou-sama's team assembled outside the building in front of Otou-sama in front of them, where he gave a short 'speech'. "You all did well today." Each of the boys seemed to shuffle slightly at Otou-sama's words, even if those words were delivered in Otou-sama's normal monotone, they were still considered praise and the boys reacted appropriately to it. "Continue practicing hard, and the next match will end up like today's."

There were nods of seriousness, or as serious as boys could manage, before Otou-sama gave a small smile and finished up his 'speech'. "That is all. Be careful on your way home. We'll meet again at the usual time."

Shortly after he was finished speaking, Otou-sama sent the other children on their way with a wave of his hand, each player beaming under the praise from Otou-sama, though for some reason the goalie stalled behind his friends for a moment before turning towards them and heading in their direction. She couldn't say she wasn't curious as to his intention, it wasn't often that she was approached by people other than Otou-sama, Onee-sama, Onii-sama, Arisa-chan or Suzuka-chan after all.

Getting up from her seat at the confusion of Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan she made her way around the table and walked up to him with her normal smile in place and bundled sword held in her right hand, even if she didn't expect anything to happen, it was best to be prepared. The boy's face was a bit red as they both stopped in front of the other, vaguely she could hear Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan giggling over something behind her as he rifled through his pocket for something.

"Umm…" That was certainly an… amusing way to start a conversation, and it made her smile brighten minutely, an action that apparently made him a bit redder in the face… was he sick or something? "I… uh… found this and wanted you to have it. It's just a normal stone I think…"

After withdrawing his hand from his pocket and opening it up, she was given… quite a big surprise, in the hands of the boy, was another Jewel Seed, and he was just giving it to her… well this made coming well worth the time spent. Her smile brightened even more as she closed her eyes briefly, missing his face redden more before she gave a reply of her own, a simple, "It's quite beautiful." as she gingerly took the offered Jewel into her hand before continuing after a single breath while bowing, "Thank you very much."

He gave a smile in return and gave a slight bow as well, backing away for two steps before turning around and running off to catch his friends, leaving her with her own friends, Otou-sama and Scrya-san. Both of her friends were still giggling for some reason as they walked up to her while she turned to face them, Arisa-chan speaking first as her levity quickly turned to an ugly expression of disgust, "Unfortunately, I have to go home and meet with my _family_ now. I'll see you both tomorrow for the tea party!"

And with those words said, Arisa-chan walked away with a wave behind her, leaving both herself and Suzuka-chan standing there with only herself returning the wave. After Arisa-chan was out of sight, she turned to face Suzuka-chan, who shifted in place nervously before muttering out softly "Bye-bye Nanoha-chan." And then her first friend ran the opposite direction from Arisa-chan's path, with herself waving with her bundle-holding hand at Suzuka-chan's retreating figure. before heading over to Otou-sama and beginning the rather long walk home.

The walk back home was silent and uneventful, just the usual nervousness and wariness directed at her and Otou-sama from random bystanders for whatever reason, which was quite nice seeing as she wanted only to relax today. The Jewel Seed she was given didn't act up as she and Otou-sama entered the compound and house, Otou-sama immediately walked off into one of the other hallways while she turned to the one leading to her room. Another much shorter walk spent humming placed her at the door to here room, which she entered without hesitation.

Scrya-san immediately jumped off as the door closed and padded along to the side of the room before hopping onto the bed, while she walked after him and sat on the bed, taking out the necklace holding Razing Heart with one hand and the Jewel Seed given freely with the other, before quietly muttering to herself. "Ensnare and Choke. Jewel Seed, serial 10, Seal." The blue Seed shined while her black Device seemed to pulse before the former floated from her grasp and was quickly absorbed by the latter, her little jewel stating _'Receipt: No. X'_ before returning to its usual inert self.

Seeing as that was now done and over with, and she was rested enough now that she likely wouldn't fall asleep even if she tried that left her with three options on things to do. First, was to try and likely fail to make progress on her flight spell, which at this point she hated the thought of flying after so much failure. Second, she could ask Scrya-san to explain more on magic or other things from where he came from, or third she could try and make another spell to aid her later down the line.

Hmm… well there was always the option of doing all three, she could listen to Scrya-san explain something new while practicing flight, and when she finally grew tired of being blown up she'd move on to making something new. At least she'd be doing that until it came close to dinner.

Her mind now made up, she stood from her bed, collected her still bundled sword from beside her and proceeded outside, Scrya-san scrambling behind her to catch up at her sudden departure. A quick walk had her outside without trouble, and a bit farther across the lawn saw her at the treeline where she finally pulled the cloth from around her sword and put the fabric around a random branch before continuing further into the forest.

If there was one good thing about the very long walks home from the city proper, it was that there was a forest right outside her home, letting her practice in secret for the most part alongside being quiet.

After a few minutes, at least she thought it was a few minutes it could have been only one for all she knew, she decided it was far enough and pulled out Razing Heart, stating "Wake up." happily just as Scrya-san caught up and embedded it in her weapon. "Scrya-san." The magic ferret looked up at her when she said his name, catching her gaze as she attempted her flight for the first time today… and slipped right through what she was supposed to be standing on… Well that boded _well_ , anyway, "Could you explain a bit more to me about the… organization you work for while I practice?"

Scrya-san gave a nod that she barely noticed before she jumped up and tried again to stand on the air… only to blow up directly into a tree… She was quite glad she decided to make that first spell increasing her toughness … even if it still hurt a bit, it was better than likely getting bruises and broken or cracked bones. Shaking the debris from her crash landing into the branches, she made another attempt below her at her… platform? below her and jumped down… only to explode again back into the branches, with the tree creaking beneath her before groaning and deciding to fall…

A crash and the tree toppled with a plume of smoke, herself thankfully jumping from the branches before it fully fell and Scrya-san looking on with a worried, yet resigned look before he finally began his 'lecture'. "Well, to begin the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, shortened to just Bureau or 'TSAB' normally, is split into four main branches, the Main Office, the Central Office, the Faurus Central Office and the Frontier Nature Conservation Corps. The first…"

Scrya-san paused as another explosion erupted from another of her failures to 'fly', getting sent straight into the ground before getting up and trying again… which resulted in her blowing up a second time into another tree and sending it toppling to the ground behind her. "… The first is composed of, the Dimensional Navy, which oversees all warships, the Armaments Service, the armed forces which are then further divided into ground and air. Then there are..."

Another explosion, slightly louder and more destructive this time, stopped Scrya-san's explanation again, this time he didn't start up again immediately after the next explosion went off, which made her wonder briefly what he was doing. At least she did before she went through one tree completely and slammed into another before slumping to the ground with a groan of frustration, taking a moment to calm herself before standing up from the debris and brushing herself off.

Once she was finished, she looked up and found Scrya-san watching her from atop one of the fallen trees, that explained why he wasn't speaking at least, he'd come to check on her, he didn't need to if she was being honest.

Looking over at him let her notice Scrya-san giving her a resigned look, which she ignored in favor of trying once again to make her spell work, barely hearing him give a sigh before he started continuing right where he left off, "…The Inspection Department, that makes sure all other divisions are doing their duties correctly, the Disaster Response Department, which does as the name implies, Resources Management Department, which allocates where people and equipment are sent, and…"

Her 'platform' cracked under her at his last word, which made her internally seethe before being shot across the clearing, another 'platform' manifesting where she thought she was going to land, only for her to hear another crack sound. That explosion sent her into the tree branches… where she fell through and eventually came to a stop as Scrya-san looking around worried below her. Finally his darting eyes found her, and immediately his face went into confusion at the sight of her hanging from a branch by her foot.

Considering that she was having next to no luck with her 'flight' spell, she'd move on to something that would hopefully have more success, her mood was quickly approaching the point where she'd 'blow up' if she kept doing it. That'd just waste time and energy better spent being productive.

"Finally there's the Infinite Library where I work, it's a great trove of knowledge and history and is where all documents and books procured by the Bureau go. Moving on to the other branches…" Yet another explosion stopped him again, the result of that attempt causing her to finally stop trying to make the 'flight' spell work. Her smile went back to normal as she took a break from that spell, even though she was still annoyed with her lack of progress, she'd focus on it another time, it wasn't that important and she'd need 'strength' over 'flight' in the future more anyway.

After making sure that she was fine, Scrya-san continued after taking a breath, and left her wondering how she was going to make this new spell. "… they're all rather simple. The Central Office is responsible for taking care of Midchilda, Faurus Central Office is responsible with overseeing criminals, even though they aren't actually based on Faurus anymore. And lastly the Frontier Nature Conservation Corps are responsible for protecting nature on the frontier worlds."

Having finally finished the rather long explanation Scrya-san let out a breath and hung his head, upon him finishing she nodded her head, both in acknowledgement and finally deciding on how to try and make her new spell work. Finding a random tree that wasn't fallen over, she walked over to it, poured mana into her body and spell, and punched with all the strength she could muster.

The resulting crash set off several birds flying into the air and made Scrya-san jump and whirl about in surprise before focusing on her. It was rather amusing to watch if she was honest.

Scrya-san found her in front of the remains of the tree, the thing having been split in two broken pieces from her attempt. Considering it had gone almost cleanly through with only a bit of resistance, she was pretty sure she already had the spell complete, if only needing to perfect it and make it not hurt. Since she already had her 'toughness' spell, it wasn't that hard to think up how to make a way to improve her strength and use a similar method to make it happen.

Instead of bones and skin like her 'Endurance' spell augmented, she instead just flooded her muscular system with mana, not the safest thing to attempt but it worked so she was justified… Except for the slight pain and spasms in her right hand… she'd have to make it 'better' so it wouldn't do that. Well, there was still time before she should start heading back, she may as well spend it making the spell less inhibiting to her ability.

It'd be rather… annoying to be beaten or fail because a simple spasm interrupted her after all.

* * *

The rest of the day was rather uneventful, she made her new spell a bit less debilitating, had a quiet dinner and sparred with Otou-sama right after, thankfully with the spar being _much_ better than morning practice had, before going to bed and sleeping. The morning routine for the next day also went better than yesterday, she didn't mess up once in practice and managed to get Otou-sama's approval for doing well, that made her smile brighten and stay bright for the rest of the morning.

Chores were done quickly, and breakfast was finished with the usual near-silence and quickness they normally had, then came time to prepare for the trip to Suzuka-chan's home, all that really needed to be done was make sure she and her clothing were proper. A few minutes were taken to freshen up a second time that morning, before she pulled on one of the several spare set of her home clothing she had.

Then all that she had left to do she was wait a while until it was time to leave to Suzuka-chan's home, which arrived quickly. A knock on her door had Scrya-san look up briefly in tiredness while yawning while she walked over and opened the door to reveal Onii-sama there, whereupon she raced over to her bedside and picked up her bundled sword, Onii-sama giving her and the bundle a once-over before asking in a deadpan, "Really?"

Her response was to simply close her eyes and reply with a cheerful, "You never know when you need it.", eliciting a sigh from Onii-sama and making him shake his head as she turned back to what she was doing. She looked around her room for a second to see if there was anything else she needed to get, meanwhile when she looked over at Onii-sama, he seemed to take a moment to try and figure out what to say in response to that. In the meantime, she had Scrya-san clamber up onto her shoulder with a snack in his paws. Onee-chan was spoiling him it seemed.

"Please tell me you don't take that to school."

She perked up at Onii-sama's equally deadpan statement, turning around to look him in the face before tilting her head slightly while her smile becoming slightly amused at the accusation. She wasn't stupid enough to do that. "I don't take it to school, Otou-sama told me not to." That answer apparently satisfied him enough, though he gave a shake as he walked off towards the gate while muttering to himself about something, she herself followed after him without pause, cheerfully dashing through until she caught up to him on the road to town.

Suzuka-chan's tea party was today and even if she could take care of herself and Otou-sama said she was alright going over alone, Onii-sama wouldn't let her go alone for some reason, hmm… he did tend to speak with Suzuka-chan's big sister for long periods of time… Now she just had to recall… ah her name was Shinobu.

Onee-sama also tended to… tease him about going and seeing her after each time he went over. She had no idea exactly why Onee-sama did that since Shinobu-san and Onii-sama had been friends since highschool, but she did it anyway. Whatever the case was, Onii-sama would be escorting her over to Suzuka-chan's home, and because of that they got to talk a little bit on the way over. "How are your classes going, Nanoha?"

She hummed a bit at the question, idly moving her legs a bit before noticing the action and stopping it, turning from looking out the window of the bus to Onii-sama and answering his question truthfully. "I'm tied with Arisa-chan at a perfect score in every class besides the two languages. I'm just above passing in those two." Another hum filled the air between them from her as Onii-sama let out an amused smile, a chuckle rising up before he shook his head.

"I see." His amusement faded quickly, changing quickly to something she was rather… 'uncomfortable' with. It wasn't the emotion itself, but rather what the emotion was directed at that made her 'uncomfortable'… though that wasn't the exact right thing to call it, she just didn't know what to call it. "And your 'training' with Tou-san, how is that going?"

She turned back to the window, giving a shrug when she thought Onii-sama was looking at her, it was going as well as she could expect given her current schedule, there hadn't been any new wounds added to her body and she was doing well enough to get praise. "I'm doing well. Otou-sama has been praising me a few times in the past week. I haven't even gotten a scar in a while." She didn't act or even sound proud at the accomplishment, it was just a statement to answer Onii-sama's question, one that he took with another nod and a short-lived smile of relief.

Really, most of trip was mostly just talking about the usual things an older brother would ask his little sister.

After that they waited until the bus came to the stop they needed to depart at just walked in comfortable silence the rest of the way to the bus stop, then they boarded the bus over to the closest stop to their destination, and finally continued to the mansion.

As they slowly made their way up to the far too big home in her opinion… then again, she thought her own home was a bit too big for her own tastes so who was she to judge other peoples' homes? Back to outside her thoughts, both her and Onii-sama had made it up the walkway and were at the door, where Onii-sama pressed the doorbell without any hesitation.

A minute passed before there was a quiet clamor of sorts on the other side, and the door opened to reveal the head maid… at least she thought it was the head maid, she couldn't remember off-hand… The maid smiled softly at seeing them before she bowed and moved back, beckoning them in with an equally soft greeting, "Welcome, Kyōya-sama, Nanoha-ojou-sama."

They both gave a light bow in return, Onii-sama taking the time to give the maid… Noel-san? a somewhat blank yet respectful "Thank you." given that she copied seconds later with her customary smile, though hers was just respectful. While she may not know what position 'Noel-san' was within the household, she knew the maid by description along with a basic grasp on her personality. She was a good role model to try and imitate, nobody expected kind or gentle people to be dangerous after all.

Shaking herself of that thought, figuratively as that would have been both rude and strange of her to just shake her head for no reason, she followed the maid and Onii-sama as they both were led through the mansion. They passed by several other servants of the house, both maids and butlers doing some manner of cleaning or passing to and fro through the halls and doors, none of them looked at her, 'Noel-san' or Onii-sama, actively making themselves scarce to avoid attention.

She didn't understand why, but they always did that for whatever reason.

After a bit of walking they were let into a sunroom where Suzuka-chan, Arisa-chan and Shinobu-san were along with 'Noel-san's' little sister… she thought 'Falin' was her name. 'Falin' was also a maid, Suzuka-chan's personal one if she was remembering correctly, she was nice like Suzuka-chan, if a little clumsy.

There were also all the cats scattered around the room lounging, maybe that was why the house was so big, cats apparently needed more indoor space than a dog did… or it could be something else… Why was she trying to rationalize why houses were big when she came for a tea party?

After entering the room, 'Noel-san' looked towards them with a gentle look, softly asking them quietly, "Nanoha-ojou-sama, Kyōya-sama, what would like for me to bring you to drink?" Both Onii-sama and herself didn't really have a preference so, they simply gave 'Noel-san' an answer that they'd take anything they had, which had her nod her head still with the same expression.

Shinobu-san walked around to stand in front of Onii-sama the moment they gave their reply, 'Noel-san' taking her leave at that moment through the still open door, then moved around him to the door with a smile before calmly stating with a tinge of happiness in her voice. "Kyōya and I will be in my room. If you three need anything don't hesitate to ask one of the maids or Falin." She gave a nod alongside Suzuka-chan, while Arisa just exclaimed an affirmative from her seat, both of her friends happy, though Suzuka-chan seemed slightly subdued for a moment before it was gone.

With that Falin-san, Onii-sama and Shinobu-san all left through the door one after the other, Falin-san being the last and closing it on her way out, leaving her with Suzuka-chan, Arisa-chan, Scrya-san and the rather large number of cats… One of which was lazily sprawled out on her seat…

It's just a cat… it doesn't know that's your seat… no need to be angry with it. Annoyed, yes.

Setting her bundle down against the table, she pried the offending feline from her seat, placed it on the ground and watched it scamper off in a manner that remined her of 'smugness', immediately after becoming confused until she heard giggling from her friends. Turning around, she found another cat had taken up residence in her chair, looking just as 'smug' as the other one had on her seat. It meowed once, likely to spite her for whatever reason as she narrowed her eyes minutely at the animal and proceeding to do the same process as the first cat had.

After the fourth cat repeating the exact same actions she had lost her patience, though Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan were giggling quietly again over the event happily, which made it somewhat less annoying at least once she'd taken a seat and calmed slightly. Thankfully none of the other cats made a move to claim her seat after the fourth one, at which point she sat down and finally was ready to talk with her friends.

The first thing Arisa-chan brought up was, "Nanoha's Onii-chan and Suzuka's Onee-chan are as lovey-dovey as ever!" … They were?

Then Suzuka-chan replied with an slight affirmative noise and a smile, though her eyes weren't the same as the smile. "Onee-chan has seemed very happy ever since she got to know Kyouya-san." … Well… she wasn't as close to Onii-sama as Suzuka-chan was to her Onee-chan… so she didn't know if Onii-sama was happier after they had met one another… she assumed so.

When both of her friends looked to her, curiosity in their gaze for the most part alongside some other things she couldn't tell, she took a moment to seemingly think before randomly spouting off something. "I think Onii-sama is the same way, he does like coming over and visiting with her." Both of her friends had amused expressions on their faces as she finished, they were both aware that she was… clueless about things like this and probably wouldn't take what she said as accurate.

Still, they giggled and had amusement written into their expressions, which was enough to make her just ignore the prior conversation and move on with life, looking around at the lavishly decorated room as she waited for her friends to stop giggling. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Scrya-san pop out of her bag, and immediately freeze at the sight of one of the cats prowling towards him.

Her smile twitched as it lessened at the sight before she picked him up, partly to ensure he didn't get injured by accident and partly to spite the felines for always taking her chair. She blinked once as a thought hit her, smile turning apologetic as she turned to Suzuka-chan, her friend looking confused as her giggling died, promptly saying something she had forgotten to say because of the cats and conversation taking place shortly after them. "Oh, Suzuka-chan. Thank you for inviting me over today."

Suzuka-chan looked down for a moment with a slight smile on her face, "It's not a problem Nanoha-chan." She paused for a moment before looking up and happily giving a warm look towards her, taking a moment of silence to find more words before starting again, "… I should be thanking you for coming. We don't get to do this that often anymore." Immediately following Suzuka-chan's response and the subsequent agreement, Falin-san came back into the room with some tea and cookies at which point they stopped for a moment, accepted the beverages and snacks and started talking about random things.

After a few minutes, she thought it was somewhere above ten minutes but she couldn't be sure, they all stood up after one another and went outside, her picking up and taking the bundle with her, to another table on the pavilion outside… And of course, another cat was sitting in her seat…

Ignoring the giggles behind her, she picked up the cat by the scruff, ignoring its incensed struggles as she did, quickly sat down on the chair so no other cat could take her seat and finally put the cat down. The feline looked up at her and seemingly glared for the rough treatment she gave it, to which she just stared back in annoyance.

After a lot of giggling and staring, the cat decided it had better things to do and went off to the side of the pavilion to curl up and fall asleep, at which point she finally stopped staring at it and turned back to Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan, the latter barely able to say the words on her mind between her laughter. Finally after a moment taken to calm down, Arisa-chan spoke with lingering amusement in her voice,

"Animals really don't like you Nanoha-chan. Suzuka's cats mess with you every time you've been over her, you need an escort to get through my house without a dog chasing you, and pretty much every other animal I know of besides Scrya tends to run off if you come near them." She gave a sigh and a nod, leading to a bit more giggling at her expense before they on from the subject… it wasn't her fault they didn't like her… She hadn't done anything bad to any animal and they still didn't like her for whatever reason… the corgi was a mercy killing since it was already dying so that was a good deed done to ease the suffering of it.

As all things came to her in recent time however, her trip was about to come to a rather… poor ending.

The chime of a Jewel Seed activating sounded once more in her mind, however, rather than immediately get up and bolt she looked over at Suzuka-chan and asked, "Suzuka-chan? Do you mind if I go for a quick walk through the woods?" While she received a look of confusion, her friend did end up shaking her head after picking up a kitten by her feet and petting it, much to the feline's delight.

Happily nodding in thanks, she stood up and picked up Scrya-san from the table, before walking towards the treeline, not even acknowledging Arisa-chan's laughter at something behind her. Knowing the place they were at, a cat definitely just took her seat and was curling up in it now, she'd deal with that later when this was over with and done.

She kept walking sedately until she was no longer in view of Arisa-chan or Suzuka-chan, immediately undoing the cloth bundle and setting her sword at its rightful place at her hip. She took a moment to think to herself before wrapping the cloth around her arm, she'd probably lose it due to the unfamiliar woods if she put it somewhere and she'd rather not return to the party with an uncovered sword… Otou-sama wouldn't let her use her sword again if someone found out she had it.

"Wake up, Razing Heart." A little command had her jewel awaken and garb her in her combat clothing, shortly before she slotted it into the metal of her sword and crept off into the woods, wary of whatever the Jewel Seed could be this time. Scrya-san was already on the ground and setting up some form of barrier that was supposed to act like the time she had properly met Scrya-san, and apparently it worked the exact same way as everything became grey and muted…

Then came another chime… and a huge kitten emerged from the trees…

That was actually quite frightening if it kept to what the other cats liked to do and messed with her, just because of who big the cat was now and it not realizing how dangerous it was. The fact that it looked through the branches directly at her and seemed to gain a sparkle in its eye when the moment it saw who she was…

Nope, nope, nope.

Without saying anything to Scrya-san, she bolted away in slight fright from the giant kitten, not noticing if he said anything in response to her departure, rushing further into the forest to escape the kitten before it did something unfortunate to her. She wasn't in the least surprised that the cat let out a rumbling meow, one that was more a playful growl than a meow, just after she started running away before it started chasing after her.

She was not dealing with a giant cat, especially since it was Suzuka-chan's and the risk of hurting it was high… the corgi incident came unbidden to her mind. So seeing as she wasn't going to fight the cat, she just ran as fast as possible from it… then out of seemingly nowhere as they passed through a clearing in the forest, something hit the kitten stopping its pursuit with a startled yelp.

… She may not enjoy being around animals because of them being… 'mean' to her, but they hadn't ever done anything to make her hate them or wish them pain, only beat them in their little 'games'. So, the moment she heard the yelp, she immediately turned on her heel and charged towards the cowering cat, looking up and watching as a light descended towards it she reacted as quickly as she could in doing something.

Pink light hardened in front of her as she ran, vaguely hearing Razing heart whisper something in her head as it, but she wasn't focused on hearing it, moments before a rather absurd amount of yellow beam-like lights rained down against her pink. One of the beams managed to get past her and her battered shield, hitting the kitten another time and causing it to whimper and press itself into the ground behind her, paws covering its head as it shook violently.

The rain stopped after a while, but she didn't let that dissuade her from keeping the cracked shield of light up, several seconds passing by in silence until a girl that looked her age peered down at her and the cat from a tree branch at the edge of the treeline with cold, pretty red eyes. The girl was dressed primarily in black, the main outfit looking somewhat like a swimsuit with an attached pink skirt and a belt seemingly separating the two pieces of clothing. There was a pair of gloves adorning her hands, a pair of laced shoes with rather long stockings, and two ribbons tying her blonde hair into ponytails as well, as well as a rather… obstructive cloak on her back.

All in all, she looked rather pretty, though that wouldn't stop her from beating up the unknown girl for hurting one of Suzuka-chan's kittens.

Judging both by the fact that she was on a tree branch and that she was dressed strangely she assumed that the girl either was a very fit girl from out of country, or she came from the same place as Scrya-san. When she finally looked a second time and saw the strange looking polearm in her hands, she was inclined to believe the latter, or at least some place that had the same technology and 'magic' as. "A magic-user, different than normal. One after the Lost Logia?" That and her muttering was rather indicative that she was looking for something, and then came the single phrase that sealed that questioning. "Device… unknown? … Unimportant. Lost Logia, Jewel Seed retrieval in progress." Her smile, which had already been strained, nearly dropped completely from her face as she readied herself for a fight.

She didn't have long to wait as the girl transformed the 'staff' into a scythe with a blade of light… that was a rather strange weapon, it wasn't practical unless you were very experienced with it. Her body moved on autopilot as she thought, immediately moving her sword in the path of the scythe before parrying it away.

A horizontal swing she made in turn was jumped over by the strange girl, the retaliatory strike from the scythe meant to strike her shoulder once more parried off to the side before she spun and tried once more to cut her opponent. This time the blow was deterred by the girl ducking and using the scythe as a fulcrum to rapidly get behind her. Three more bouts were exchanged in similar if slightly different manners where nothing important occurred, the fourth clash consisting of the girl backing away from her after the prior engagement and the scythe reverting to its default state.

Quickly pointing the stave at her as she gave chase, several yellow orbs appeared in the air around the girl before being sent straight at her. The first was cut in half as if it was nothing, the second sidestepped with ease, the third parried clumsily, with the fourth and final one catching her in the chest… it hurt about as much as her failures in flying did, that boded well for her at least.

The unknown girl with dead eyes took advantage of her momentary thought and lapse of attention, changing her weapon back into a scythe before somehow the device called out _"Arc Saber."_ and sent the blade of the scythe spinning directly at her like a ring. She chose the stupid brain-dead decision for whatever reason after the realization that the beams didn't hurt. and ran straight into it. She quickly and painfully paid the price for her foolishness by being sent straight into a tree with an attack that hurt a bit more than a dull ache…

Then the tree decided to fall on top of her… of course it did…

A roll out of the tree's way save her from death by tree, or at least injury by tree, and placed her directly in the path of the girl as she tried to swipe at her neck. It was good for her that her sword was already coming up and managed to block it, otherwise she may have been seriously hurt that time. Clenching her fist tightly, she decided to try and at least get some questions answered while there was an apparent lull in their skirmish, "Who are you, and why are you after the Jewel Seeds?"

Perhaps it was due to her being rather… unimposing, or maybe it was just because the girl was either confident that she would win or simply didn't care, but she didn't answer her question the way she wanted, instead merely applying more force against her before saying briefly in a similarly dead voice, "Even if I answered, it would likely be meaningless." … Well that was just being vague for vague's sake… so seeing as she probably wouldn't get anything out of her, or rather nothing important, she decided to continue with the fight with a single action.

Said action was just a simple punch. Nobody really expected them when you fought with actual weapons.

She reared her fist back, pushed against the other girl's stave with her 'strength' spell active, taking the girl by surprise at the sudden force pushing against her, and punched her straight in the chest. She expected the other girl to skid back from the blow and be ready to fight again, she did not however expect her to go flying into a tree and then through it into another one… were other magic-users not as durable as her?

Oh, she was getting up again… and she was flying… haa… this was going to hurt wasn't it?

And again the other girl treated her to a bombardment of yellow beams, while they didn't hurt as much, the rain of bolts were still annoying to wade through, and that didn't even include the annoyance she felt at the other girl's apparent _mastery_ of flight.

After probably a minute and a half her body stopped getting hit by the other girl's spells, with the dust kicked up around her finally settling. By the end of the barrage she was in a bit of pain even with her 'endurance' spell active… that spell really needed a name as did the other one, just calling them 'strength' and 'endurance' was rather… dull, even if they were simple things.

At some point during the rain of magic, she had been pushed back to the fallen tree she'd thrown the girl into… An idea came unbidden to her mind, a bad idea likely, a _very_ bad idea but she was annoyed enough at the girl to try and do it regardless. Impaling her blade into the earth, she gripped part of the fallen trunk with one hand and another part with her other before lifting up, thanking whatever governed luck that she had made the 'strength' spell yesterday and was trying this with a smaller, lighter tree than the rest.

Her muscles strained under the thing's weight regardless, it wasn't like she was ever trained to do this in the first place… Then again no one was supposed to throw a tree at another person anyway…

The dust began settling, letting her see the girl slowly descending towards the ground towards where she assumed the cat was. Finding her target she quickly brought herself to throwing the thing, her muscles still straining under the weight of the tree as she took a step forward, rearing the trunk back as far as she could without losing her grip or balance. Feeling a little generous seeing as almost no one would expect this she called out once just as she let the trunk fly, "This will hurt slightly."

Confusion quickly turned to a very muted panic as a yellow circle of symbols lit up in front of her, the tree uncaring of whatever defense that offered and smashing through the upper right of the circle, the entire shield shattering on the impac. As the tree slowly fell back to the ground, the other girl watched it sail through the air until landing with a crash at some point in the forest, turning back to her the moment the crash.

Well, this was going to hurt. This was going to hurt far more than the previous attack from the girl had…

On the bright side, at least she knew a limit of her strength right now… her thoughts stopped as a large beam with purple lightning raced forward. Knowing what was almost certainly going to happen she pulled her sword from the earth and sheathed it in one motion, calmly accepting the hit without a word and a neutral smile. The bolt of magic treated her to a pain that was almost as bad as Otou-sama's slashes, blasting her through two trees with lightning coursing through her body and causing her to convulse minutely before hitting a third tree hard enough to cause it to fall on top of her.

Fortunately, the tree didn't kill her, unfortunately, she wasn't knocked out from the painful blow and she was now stuck under the tree… and the after effects of the lightning and blunt force were making everything hard to concentrate on through the pain. Faintly, she heard the kitten yowl in pain, and a moment later Scrya-san was at her side with concern in his body language… she had completely forgotten her employer was here… Wait… the kitten was yowling… and the girl was after Jewel Seeds as well…

Awkwardly, she raised her right arm up and brought her elbow down on top of the bark pinning her down, jarring the limb into numbness and breaking the tree in half. Immediately after getting to her feet, she bolted towards where she had heard the yowl come from, stumbling slightly with each step. Her right arm now hanging limply at her side, she drew her sword as quickly as she could while running with a single hand, failing rather miserably as she took the sheathe with it somehow…

Otou-sama would berate her quietly if he had seen that.

Shaking her head of that thought she leapt through the treeline back into the clearing just as the Jewel Seed materialized above the rapidly shrinking cat. Wasting no time, she charged as fast as she could towards the other girl, only barely being slow enough to not interrupt the girl from sealing the Jewel Seed before she barreled into them. For a brief moment after the impact, the girl's face lit up in emotion for the first time as actual surprise formed on her face at the unexpected action, before both of them tumbled to the ground.

Her opponent stopped rolling first and climbed to her feet, surprise quickly fading to be replaced with the blank face she normally wore, with herself coming to a rest panting on the ground in front of the girl. Exhausted and in pain, she pulled herself up from the ground, leaning heavily on her sheathed sword to keep herself standing, at that point the other girl deigned to speak again in the same dead tone as before. "You're tenacious."

… She probably wasn't thinking straight at this point, her head had taken a lot of hits in the past… however long it was… but still there was one thing that she could recall with perfect clarity right now. A Takamachi always completes their job, regardless of if it ends in their death or the deaths of innocents. A job was fulfilled no matter the cost, the only exception being if another Takamachi was in the way, or their employer died… the former hadn't happened in a long, long time…

She was in her way… she was trying to take the Jewel Seeds for herself… She was in her way… she… wouldn't… let… her… Darkness claimed her sight, before she felt herself falling, faintly hearing "I'm sorry." In the same dead voice as before she heard nothing else.

* * *

The sky and sun had changed color by the time she woke up.

Trying to raise herself from the bed she found herself in, uncomfortably soft, only for her to wince in pain and slump into the bed as a surge of pain engulfed her body. Looking over herself, she saw that she was in her normal clothing, with her right arm bandaged rather tightly and several other bandages pressing into her chest and stomach.

One of the maids, she thought it was Falin-san because of the violet hair but she could be mistaken, came in to check on her, immediately leaving upon seeing she was awake, likely to let others know she was awake. Shortly after that, the door burst open and she was surrounded by Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan demanding she tell them what happened and why she was hurt… well, it was mostly just Arisa-chan that did it.

"What happened!? You didn't come back for an hour so went looking for you. Then you get found under a big tree branch with a cat next to you and your covered in bruises. _What happened_?" Arisa-chan wasn't letting up, even after a couple of minutes, which wasn't a surprise in the least… which meant that she had to deflect somehow while keeping it believable and not mention magic.

She didn't like lying unless she was told to, but it was better to let Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan remain unaware of what she was doing, they'd only worry or get themselves worked up and try and get her to stop.

"Ah, I was walking along with Scrya-san through the forest, and a rather large tree branch fell on me and knocked me out. I don't remember anything else." A little lie, one that was partially true, though while Arisa-chan seemed to accept it, Suzuka-chan had a frown on her face and looked as though she didn't believe her in the slightest. Suzuka-chan didn't say anything at least about it, instead just fussing over her quietly.

She managed to weather the storm of Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan worrying over her, being allowed to get up and out of the uncomfortable bed the moment Onii-sama arrived at the room, Onii-sama helping her out of the bed as she said goodbye to Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan. Quietly they left without anything else happening, though Onii-sama was quieter than usual as well was holding on to her sword… she wanted it back… it was important to her.

They walked the streets toward home in silence, the evening light eventually fading from view until night took its place just as they reached the gate into the compound. She momentarily stopped at the threshold upon seeing Otou-sama standing in front of the building, with Onee-sama sitting slightly worried on the deck, immediately losing the worry upon seeing her walking.

Her pause was brief enough that she was moving again before anyone caught her stopping, especially since Onii-sama had Otou-sama's attention, even though nothing was said at all. A simple "I'll handle it from here." from Otou-sama was enough to make Onii-sama bow and hand over her sword and its cloth covering to Otou-sama, Otou-sama motioning for her to follow him which she did without question.

Onee-sama looked her over quickly before nodding and walking away without a word, leaving her to slowly follow behind Otou-sama as he took them not to their usual destination of the dojo outside but to Otou-sama's room… She'd never been inside of this room before, neither her, Onii-sama or Onee-sama were allowed in here unless Otou-sama allowed them, something that wasn't looked forward to.

"I take it that your job is the reason for your current condition." She gave a slight nod of her head at Otou-sama's calm words, unwrapping the bandages around her arm, working the limb as she did, to show unmarred skin. She was rather thankful that, between her own magic and Scrya-san's, she would likely be in a good condition come the morning, not perfect but that was expected given she wasn't capable of healing herself.

"Hmm…" Her attention turned back to Otou-sama as he made a noise of contemplation, one of his currently closed eyes opening minutely to look at her, before continuing his questioning, "Were your injuries related to the nature of the job… or outside interference?"

The darkening of her face spoke enough, and so Otou-sama gave a single grave nod before holding out her blade to her, her demeanor immediately brightening into a joyful expression as she held onto her treasure happily, barely listening to Otou-sama as she basked in her blade's return. "… Until you are finished with this job we will postpone all training. These sessions _will_ be made up at a later time. As well, whatever it is you have been doing in the forest, you have my full permission to use our previous times to indulge in it, so long as your schedule remains intact."

She gave another nod, happily basking in the return of her blade before standing, bowing once with a "Thank you", that Otou-sama waved off without a change in his expression. Only as she was leaving did she have the presence of mind to look around, noting that aside from a few pictures and a desk with neatly organized papers it was remarkably similar to her own. It wasn't like it mattered, since she wouldn't be here often, so she walked out of the room and started

She wouldn't let Otou-sama be disappointed in her, after that fight with the other magic-user she was… quite annoyed with her lack of progress on flight, as well as her lack of ability to fight with the girl. And seeing as they were both collecting Jewel Seeds, they _would_ be meeting again in battle, so she was fully prepared to focus solely on her uncooperative spell work during her free time.

Mulling over those thoughts on her way back to her room through the wooden hallway, seeing as it was nearly time for her to sleep again, she put together a simple checklist of sorts for what she'd need to do in the coming days.

First and foremost, she'd have to finish working on was flight, then after that she'd have to make herself somehow faster, otherwise even with flight, she'd be unable to even catch her foe as all the dodging showed. Lastly, in response to all the spells thrown her way, she'd have to make something to at least be able to exchange in those situations, or possibly use to intercept some of the more dangerous shooting spells the other girl used.

Regardless, her face darkened as she thought of her foe to be, she wouldn't allow the other girl to interfere any more than she already had with her job. She'd very much like to not kill her, as she was probably much nicer in person, but if it came down to it… nothing stood in a Takamachi's way when a job was concerned.

 _Nothing._


	3. Conception III

_Amount of hugs needed: 2276 [(6865+8417+7477)/10 - Round up]_

 _Amount of hugs found: 480_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

The next morning she woke at her usual time, dressing herself quickly and quietly in her normal clothing before walking out of her room just before the clock chimed three times, making her way through the halls until she reached outside and continued to walk until the woods consumed her. Scrya-san wasn't with her this time, something that suited her after yesterday's fight with the strange girl, she had several things she needed to learn and make if she wanted to be able complete her job.

Her hand tightened around the handle of her sword as she drew it, a low creak heard as she did, roughly pulling Razing Heart off her necklace before slotting it into the metal and changed into her 'work' clothes with a flash of pink before beginning her practice. She wouldn't fail Scrya-san again, one failure was already too many marks against her and would only drag her name through the dirt.

The first and most important thing that needed to be addressed was her flight spell, she _had_ to make it work otherwise she would _never_ be able to match the other girl.

So with that simple thought in mind she set to work, blowing up on the first try before immediately setting up another try in the direction she was going. She went straight through that attempt, so another was made directly behind it, this one she managed to brush against for a second before it exploded, progress was being made towards her first attempt's lucky try.

Trying to flip around to present her legs towards wherever it was she was going to land was a good idea, however while she was rather good in physical education, she wasn't that skilled in acrobatics yet, so all she managed to do was send herself flying into a tree with the side of her chest taking the hit. A grimace worked its way onto her face at both the failure to right herself and continue, alongside the dull pain her 'endurance' spell couldn't block out completely. Immediately after gathering herself, she scrambled to a foothold and leapt down, another attempt of her spell conjured beneath her that immediately shattered…

That was progress, now it was behaving more like a solid surface rather than… something, she had no idea what to describe her prior attempts…

Pushing that thought out of her head as she stood up from the ground, she immediately got back to work jumping up and onto a platform, managing once more to stand on it for a moment before it blew up and sent her flying. Once more she set up another platform where she was going, only to shatter through it without remotely slowing, then through the next as well before landing in the branches of a tree, thankfully slow enough after going through the second to not hurt herself too much.

Again, she jumped from the branches to the ground below, another attempt made under her that exploded her straight back up, the attempt after finding amusement in sending her straight back down into the dirt. Picking herself up and giving herself a light dusting off, she took a deep breath to calm herself of her frustration before once more jumping up, and immediately got sent flying sideways through a tree.

Lying still amidst the broken tree as the severed portion fell half a meter from her, she took another deep breath to calm herself, then another before climbing back to her feet and walked back to the little, battered grove. Yet another breath taken before she jumped up again, landing on a platform that cracked immediately upon her touching it, two seconds passing before it shattered completely like most of them, the one made underneath giving the same results before she was back on the ground.

Now a fourth of the way through her usual count of attempts, a fact that she idly remembered for whatever reason, she stilled and let out the frustration slowly consuming her.

After what she assumed was about a minute she stopped, regular smile back in place, and proceeded to begin again, hopping onto a new platform that immediately cracked the moment she put her weight on it, shattering a single moment later and letting her fall. Another platform appeared below her, holding her for a short moment before sending her flying up again, the third platform taking the same amusement as one of the prior ones in sending her hurtling towards the ground.

This time however she managed to make a platform underneath her shortly before she would have hit the dirt, a rather loud cracking sound echoing out until five seconds later the platform broke. Her smile grew a bit brighter at the progress made there, it seemed that finally she was getting the hang of flight after so many attempts and time spent, and so motivated after that 'success' she hopped up to another platform, her smile brightening when it didn't immediately blow up.

Unfortunately for her however, her apparent success lulled her to a false sense of security, and she was sent careening into a tree, through it and into another tree, _through_ that one as well before indenting herself into a third tree by an explosion that was much more violent than the previous ones. Even with that… accident and the dull pain shooting through her body, her smile was still bright as she pried herself from the tree…

Though upon looking down she noticed her sword wasn't in her hand, her smile dimmed before immediately looking up in a somewhat frantic manner, where she found it impaled through the 'carcass' of the first tree.

Her body, even with her 'endurance' spell active, ached as she forced herself to walk over and retrieve her sword from the tree. If there was one thing above all the others she was glad that her training with Otou-sama it was she had a rather… high amount of pain tolerance. Upon reaching her sword, she pulled it out of the bark with ease, taking care to look it over for any chips that may have come from the weapons landing. Upon checking it over and finding nothing thankfully, she made a strained hum of happiness before she walked back into the open-aired grove, beginning her training again with a short hop onto a readily made platform.

She counted four seconds before she was rapidly sent skyward by another concussive explosion. Cresting the treetops had her make another platform beneath her quickly, her feet barely touching it before she leapt off it and onto another one, her intuition failing her there as her first one cracked and shattered shortly before her second exploded sending her higher into the air.

If she had been paying attention to the scenery around her, she probably would have been treated to quite a beautiful view of the city she lived near and the ocean beyond it. As it was, she was preoccupied making sure she'd impact the next platform she made to stop her from going any higher up and trying to figure out how to get down without severely injuring herself. And trying to stop herself from spinning, she may not get motion sickness, but it was very annoying to have to figure out what direction was what.

With a heavy impact, she rammed against the newest platform completely upside down, mentally giving thanks that this one was the more solid type instead of the fragile one, before she pushed off of it back towards the ground, leaving the platform to detonate behind her. Rapidly approaching the second platform, she brought her right side to bear before landing roughly onto it, her side taking the brunt of impact.

A second after the impact the entire platform cracked with an audible noise before shattering and forcing her to fall again, another platform made just lower than that one to try and give her a reprieve. The new platform cracked and shattered just as quickly as the prior one, but by the point it exploded she had managed to regain her breath from the hard landing and leapt off it back into the air.

The next platform she made and dropped onto was solid and unyielding, giving her a brief moment to catch her breath for a second before she leapt off and fell as it detonated harmlessly above her. Her next platform gave her a bit of respite as it cracked on impact, five seconds passing barely giving her enough time for her to get back to her feet. Just like before she leapt and was falling again for whatever time it was now, though this time she was just above the treetops, something that she felt relief for.

With the trees passing beside her now, she made a final platform that would hopefully see her safely to the ground, landing heavily in a crouch on it with an impact that jarred her entire body, before mentally counting the seconds as they passed by. At least, she did until she passed six seconds and the platform didn't send her flying or just break entirely, which left her incredibly confused as to why it hadn't.

She waited a short while longer just to make sure the entire thing wouldn't just collapse on her before gingerly beginning to stand up from her crouch, still confused why it didn't shatter. Taking a few steps to the side, she made another platform a bit lower than her current one before hopping over to it, the thing neither cracking or exploding as she expected when she landed on it lightly.

Realization quickly dawned on her before she let a vibrant smile break out on her face, triumphantly holding her sword up to the sky in what she assumed was joy. Finally, finally she had beaten her flight spell and was able to use it… probably. She hoped very dearly that there was nothing else in the future, barring something to do with swordsmanship, that needed her to put that much effort into, she'd have grey hair before she was twenty if that were to happen.

Taking a few moments after that… eventful bit of training to rest, catch her breath and come down from her exhilaration at finally beating her 'most fearsome enemy', she took the time to think of her next plan of action the moment she stood back up. Said plan being to think up some way to stand toe-to-toe with the other girl, which meant being able to actually hit her in the first place, in turn meaning she'd have to become faster than she currently was. Hopefully that was something that should hopefully come easier to her than 'flight' did.

While thinking of whatever would be used, she took to performing a portion of her prior training, mindlessly slashing really since she needed to think, it was a better usage of time than just sitting around and thinking anyway. It took much longer than her prior attempts to figure out how her new spell would work, but eventually she managed to think up something worthwhile enough to make an attempt with.

Taking a bit from her other two augments, notably just the locations of where to put her mana, she'd make her bones hollow like that of a bird's, something that would by itself make her bones brittler if not for her 'endurance' spell strengthening them. In addition to that, she'd be sending more mana into the muscles of her arms and legs to strengthen them, but the main idea behind the entire spell would be to reduce her weight instead of speeding her up.

…Now came the even harder part… figuring out how to test if it was working or not…

She didn't have anything on hand that could tell time, she hadn't needed to since Otou-sama always made sure that they were done by a certain time before. Now that she was on her own, she'd have to bring a watch out to keep track of time… wait… what even was time? And with that thought she immediately discarded her Barrier Jacket for her regular clothing, sheathed her sword while taking out Razing Heart before slipping it back around her neck before bolting back through the woods towards home.

Bursting through the trees she hastily made her way over to the house, slowing down to a quick walk just before she reached the corridor and making her way to her room. Quietly slipping in, she swiftly moved over to check her clock at the bedside, a silent sigh of relief leaving her as it read only a minute and a half before the next hour came.

With that crisis averted she set about changing into her school clothing, the light amount of noise finally waking up Scrya-san from his sleep as she was stripping off the bandages if the rustling behind her was any indication. Finishing her dressing after a minute, she set out to do her morning chores with Scrya-san following behind her rather closely before suddenly running up her back to perch on her shoulder.

The unexpected movement didn't gain any reaction from her, seeing as she somewhat expected it, so she moved on to her single chore this morning, sweeping each building in the compound, a long, arduous chore she didn't like doing. Haa… well, the faster she got it done, the faster she would be finished with her chores this morning and be able to get back to work making spells.

* * *

The next week passed by in silence, something that unnerved her greatly as neither the strange girl or any Jewel Seeds came up within the city or its outskirts. At least, as far as she could feel, there hadn't been any new Jewel Seeds appearing, though that didn't mean the girl hadn't collected some of the other Seeds.

Aside from that, school went well in the last week before the short break, she managed to get to passing in her English and Japanese classes, just barely though as was common with her due how bad she was with the class. The other classes were aced with ease, though P.E. was brutal on the second to last day... Suzuka-chan was a monster when it came to dodgeball…

Regardless of that… it wasn't unpleasant but neither was it really pleasant… well she could just say it was fun as the word wasn't coming to mind, which was a true statement. Regardless of that, other than school ending for a while there wasn't much else that happened aside from her daily activities, she had gone out with Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan twice and done random things. Going to a café and talking, shopping or wandering around a park among a few other things, nothing worthwhile to remember or talk about really.

Making her newest spell progressed decently in the two days after she created it, managing to get the spell to work without most of the backlash it caused as a side-effect. She had learned the night that she'd made it that the damage that particular spell could cause if it was used poorly was _much_ more painful than the other two augments. Strained muscles and cracked bones together was enough that her pain tolerance was at its limit, and something she would never want to experience again.

Thankfully she wouldn't have to deal with that issue much anymore, though having said that, the actual speed difference between her without the augment and with it and the others on wasn't as much as she had hoped it would be.

Other than her rather lackluster speed augment, she had only worked on two other spells, one more augment and her first shooting spell. The former of the two was the simplest spell she had made so far, all it was was mana coursing along her blade, which in turn just meant that she put her mana around the blade, simple and, beyond the initial explosion on trying it out, it worked well.

The shooting spell on the other hand… that was tricky, though nowhere near as tricky as flight had been. Her first instinct had been to make a single slash that was sent from the sword at an enemy while her newest augment was up, then she accidently discovered something that was just a bit better. Whenever her sword was swung with the augment up it left a vague trail of motes in its wake.

Seeing as it would just be a waste of mana to let those motes dissipate and do nothing, she set about trying to 'weaponize' them, which was much harder than one would assume. The trail left in the sword's wake didn't have enough mana supplied to it naturally to be utilized in the way she wanted, that was obvious by the fifth attempt, so she had to actively force mana into the trail to make the motes linger around her.

Unfortunately, while that allowed the motes to linger longer, they were then _abysmally_ slow compared to before, let alone the other girl's spells, barely able to move a meter in a minute's time, and even if she'd use them in that state, they were too few to be worth any factor. The twelfth try alleviated the speed and numbers problem, not by much seeing as they were still slower than her walking slowly, all that had happened by then was the motes had gotten smaller, about the size of a baseball, and faster.

Each consecutive time she attempted the spell until the twenty-third and final try had the motes becoming increasingly smaller, to about the size of a golfball at the end, quicker and more numerous. By the she finished with the spell, she made out seventeen motes being made with every swing whenever she pushed mana into the trail, and eight whenever she didn't.

Yet even, with all the improvements and refinements to it she couldn't make them anywhere near as quick as the other girl's spells had been. So, she decided to move on from that spell on back to her original idea, though she kept the newer spell close to herself, just like her other spells she'd made, eventually she would try and find the correct place for it.

After the fight, and loss, with the other girl, Scrya-san had tried unsuccessfully to get her to rest and relax, annoying her into excluding him from the morning sessions, she'd have done the evening sessions as well if it wasn't insulting to do so. Though with the way he was continuing to try and reign in her training habits to what he considered 'manageable', she'd probably ignore him when it came to anything beyond the lectures and orders for the collection of Jewel Seeds.

Having said that, most of her new spells were now made, tested, and completed solely in the morning, for the reason of not upsetting him and not annoying her to the point it made their relationship more strained. He _was_ a very nice employer after all, one she would like to work for again on some other job he needed done after this was all over with.

She was so lucky to have such a nice employer for her first job. From what Otou-sama told both her and Onee-sama whenever he did talked about his old jobs, it was rare for anyone to be 'nice', especially with the jobs that were normal for them. Most of the time employers didn't care about their hired muscle as long as the job was done, which she could understand with how the world was and them being unconcerned with people they didn't know.

Speaking of Onee-sama though, she, Onii-sama, Shinobu-san, Suzuka-chan, Arisa-chan, Falin-san and Noel-san had all set out to a hot spring a bit outside of the city. She'd been invited to go along by Arisa-chan, but she'd given the excuse… or was it a lie?… probably a lie, that Otou-sama had grounded her from taking any trips outside the city.

While Arisa-chan had been saddened by her words she'd said at the time, Suzuka-chan had narrowed her eyes slightly at her before she quickly gave them a promise that she'd go somewhere else with them whenever her 'grounding' was over without any complaints… Considering the devious smile Arisa-chan had the moment she finished giving that promise she had a feeling she somehow had messed up somehow…

That aside she had an actual reason for not going, the same one that had Otou-sama only driving them there and was coming home the moment they were in the building, but that reason was far too private to reveal to anyone other than her family.

Having declined going to the hot spring and now waiting for Otou-sama to return, she was stuck alone with Scrya-san with nothing to occupy her for the moment. Training was… not particularly looking promising with Scrya-san there, at best she'd get a lecture from him about something that was possibly interesting, and there were no chores that needed to be done until the next day.

Well, with a lecture she'd at least learn something new and spend her free time until something better came along. A brief thought passed about what she would ask about, quickly coming to a conclusion before then wondering what Scrya-san would tell her about the subject. With a shake of her head amidst her unceasing walk in the grass, she looked over at Scrya-san before asking her question, "Scrya-san, what are Devices?"

Her employer jolted in surprise at the abrupt question, though he quickly went back to sitting down on the porch, still somewhat off-balance, and continued to watch her pace around. Before she turned her head back to watching where she was going, she saw Scrya-san nod to himself a few times, maybe to try and get himself back to somewhat composed before he started the lecture. "Umm, to start Devices are tools that mages use to augment their natural magical ability and to help them in the casting."

Scrya-san took a quick breath as she turned about in quickly alleviating boredom, continuing the moment after he let out the breath. "They tend to run the calculations faster than most humans, lowering the cast time for their users, as well as memorizing spells that are cast by mages and storing them for later use." …Huh, that was nice to know. If she could figure out if the device she used was doing that or not, and if it wasn't helping her she'd have to figure out to get it to work. "Most also tend to have certain programs such as a stopwatch, alarm, calculator, simple little things to aid in a mage's everyday life." … She stopped walking the moment Scrya-san said the first item that could be used from a Device, something Scrya-san seemed to notice since he didn't say anymore after, though she didn't see what he was doing.

Taking a very deep breathe, she started harshly berating herself now that she knew the little jewel around her neck was also a stopwatch, annoyance creeping into her from the information. If she had known that she would have had her 'speed' spell done a day earlier, meaning every other spell after would have been done earlier, possibly even managing to finish her other shooting spell by now…

Scrya-san waited for her to begin moving again before continuing on the moment she had stopped, he was getting to understand when she was paying attention after so long, "There are six types of devices that I know of, though I've only seen three of them in person, there are Storage Devices, Boost Devices, Armed Devices, Intelligent Devices, Unison Devices and lastly Hybrid-Intelligent Devices."

Scrya-san finished that _long_ sentence with a drawn-out breath, taking a few seconds to properly get back his breath before continuing with a passion-filled voice, Scrya-san enjoyed teaching others about things. "Storage Devices are the most common in today's time, while not as good as several of other devices in terms of intelligence they tend to process spells faster than most of the others. However, they're normally not particularly… 'good' at doing things without someone directly guiding them, so they can't help their wielders with unexpected surprises."

Again, Scrya-san took a breath from yet another long-winded explanation, one she took advantage in thinking over the Device he spoke of. Razing Heart likely wasn't a Storage Device, it hadn't 'stored' any of the spells she'd made or made them easier to cast like Scrya-san said they did, which meant Razing Heart was one of the others.

"Boost Devices are an off-shoot of Storage Devices, specializing almost solely in support spells that aid the caster or one of their allies, those that dabble in summoning spells also tend to use them exclusively." At this point she went and sat down in front of her employer, having tired of simply walking around listening to him for the moment and waited for him to continue, mentally crossing off another type of Device that Razing Heart probably wasn't as she did.

"I only know of Armed Devices, though they are used by a few individuals that practice Modern Belkan magic, that is a lecture for another day Nanoha." She gave a quick nod in understanding before the ferret went back to speaking, "Their origin lies somewhere in Ancient Belka, another lecture for yet another time, and were primarily devices used in combat situations. From what little I know, they possess a bit more intelligence than Storage Devices, though far less than Intelligent Devices, and are more weapons than anything else."

A sigh was given as he finished that part, one she waited patiently for to end as her body silently swayed with a smile in place, taking in everything he said without issue. After a while of resting, Scrya-san continued with his lecture, only slightly winded despite the energy he was putting it. "Intelligent Devices are among the most advanced in terms of artificial intelligence the Bureau knows about an is able to make. The few I've seen have different personalities and think in different ways as well, which suits their wielders well."

She looked down at the black jewel at her neck, wondering what exactly its personality was, she didn't know what gender the device had, if it even had one, so she'd have to settle for 'it' until she heard the voice. "Having said that, they are fully capable of acting in the user's best intentions, you've been on the receiving end a few times now."

She gave another nod at that, she had never actively been using a spell to protect herself… come to think of it she would need to figure out how to set up or develop one at some point… that was something Scrya-san should be happy with teaching her compared to everything else. Returning to back to the world after that thought went through her head, she saw Scrya-san looking up at her, waiting a patiently for her to focus before he continued with the exact same passion he had at the start.

Scrya-san was a good teacher as well as good employer, even if he tried to continually keep her from the more strenuous parts of her training.

"I've never seen a Unison Device, and to be frank I don't expect to no matter how much I may dream of it, such is their rarity and the fact that no one know how to make one in current times. What little I can tell you about them is that they are essentially a Device given human form that were created in Ancient Belka. Other than that all I can do is assume." She nodded her head as he paused, just from his description alone, Unison Devices seemed to be extremely difficult to make. And whatever Belka was, given it had the moniker 'Ancient' attached, it was probably _long_ before now, and as with everything, things and people died and were lost to time.

Again she returned to her employer, this time ending her thoughts as he finished regaining his breath and letting him continue without wasting any time. "Neither have I seen a Hybrid-Intelligent device, which I don't rightly know what those are. All I understand of it is that it is the closest thing that the Bureau has made to a Unison Device, and even then, that's just a rumor that floated among the archaeologists I've talked with."

"For all we know, Ancient Belka could have made their own Hybrid-Intelligent Devices." Scrya-san gave a shrug as he finished speaking, letting her know when he was done as he made no effort to continue the lecture. She gave one last nod before standing back up to her full, rather meager height, stretching her limbs for a short bit while ruminating on the two likely types of Devices that Razing Heart could be.

Stopped her thoughts as she faintly heard something from the front, signaling that Otou-sama was back, though she didn't move a muscle to go in that direction. Instead, she watching as Scrya-san let out a yawn before starting to pad back towards her room, waiting until he was out of sight before walking towards the forest.

She needed to work on her spells a bit more… maybe make something to protect herself with before she headed to bed for the night.

* * *

She barely heard the chime of a new Jewel Seed as she wandered through the trees, the noise just louder as whatever Razing Heart whispered whenever she was using it. Considering that the sound was that low in volume… she probably had a _long_ way to go before she was anywhere near where the Jewel activated.

Well… at least she had started moving before she made that realization, somewhere above the just above the treetops to the point of almost brushing against the leaves, going as fast as possible with the aid of her 'speed' augment and her platforms. Her 'endurance' spell was off, it slowed her down and right now given the likely distance, she needed to go as fast as possible to make sure she was there before the other girl.

After what felt like a minute of her bounding along her platforms with a brief brush against the leaves below, a simple, if completely dangerous, idea came to mind. A single bound after the idea came was given to think on it before she went through with it stepping onto the next platform, its face angled towards her destination. With a pulse of mana, she forced it to explode and sent herself flying towards where the chime of the Jewel Seed had come from.

While that method was certainly quicker than just running along her platforms, she forgot one slightly important fact, her 'endurance' spell was off.

That single instance resulted in a miniscule wince of pain directly after she detonated the platform beneath her, feeling something off about her leg that was disregarded before switching on her endurance spell just before she landed on the next platform, slamming into it and giving another wince of pain. 'Endurance' was turned off for three steps across the new platform, then put up again for the next before she was 'flying' again.

She repeated those actions two more times before settling for running across her platforms, a few steps more seeing a corona of light shining into the sky a bit farther ahead further inside the forest. _The other girl_ had already beaten her to the Jewel Seed…

Her smile drooped slightly as she let the platform fade from under her and fell through the foliage towards the ground, a random branch ripped from its tree as she crashed through it by complete accident. It didn't matter much to her other than a slight jarring since she had 'endurance' spell before hitting the ground with a thud and immediately bolting towards where the other girl was supposed to be.

It took only a short few seconds before she was close to the end of the trees, her smile back to its natural 'setting' just as she was about burst from the woods, a platform readily made and pointing ahead that she stepped on.

A clap of noise and shattered mana sounded before she hurtled out of the trees, her eyes taking in the barest of detail around her before finding and focusing on her foe walking away without an ounce of worry or care. She took a step on something wooden before continuing the charge, sending her straight at the other girl's back with her pink-coated sword singing through the air poised to impale the girl in the back.

A brief moment passed before her blade was caught on something, jerking her to a stop and making the attack fail, the girl continuing on without a care off whatever they were on, while her eyes started to refocus off the other girl. Her eyes moved from the other girl to whoever was blocking her, her feet leaving the ground and moving up as she vaguely heard the words "My, my…" uttered in a woman's voice.

Whatever else was said was tuned out as she brought her feet up and placed them just in front of the orange light blocking her, making a platform between and pushed off with an explosion.

There were two sounds she heard, a yelp that probably came from the woman that she barely heard, and quite clearly the shattering of magic ringing out above everything, though she paid both little heed as she flipped to try and get back to an up-right position, landing on the wood surface with a light stumble. Her balance was addressed quickly, before she instantly sped forward as fast she could through the dust made.

Or rather she would have had a hand not caught the back of hakama and thrown her back across the bridge, this time she just slid back for a few meters, one of her hands trying to grip against the wood before she stopped just from momentum running out.

Getting up from her crouch at a somewhat sedate pace, she finally took in the woman protecting the strange girl… that clothing was not decent, not from what she'd been told or seen… A white shirt that looked too short for her, pink… they looked like shorts… red garters near her ankles, black gloves and shoes and two short black capes, one from her shoulders and another at her waist behind the… shorts… though the strangest part about her, was the jewel in her forehead, fox tail and ears…

It said something about her that the first thought she had when she saw those was _'… Of course the fox-woman is going to get in my way, every animal loves to mess with me…'_ That said, considering how many animals messed with her, she figured it was a valid thought.

As the dust cleared, she saw the other girl had stopped at some point during the quick exchange, looking over her shoulder with cold red eyes that ignored her and focused on the fox-woman. She idly heard the fox-woman and the girl talk to one another, well more like the fox-woman talked and the other girl agreed, though she did hear "Don't be reckless…" from the other girl before she took off into the trees, the fox-woman cracking her knuckles before getting into a stance.

"It's been a long while since I got to fight someone, so I'm not going to bother fighting you too seriously. Still, I'm not going to go easy on you kiddo, though I'll make sure you don't die." The woman's eyes glinted and her smile turned feral like an animal's, it didn't really bother herself to see it on another person, though she did tense in preparation as the woman finished. "You _really_ shouldn't have got in our way, kiddo." That last part was hypocritical… though she wasn't about to say anything.

Regardless she paid that no mind, walking forward with her sword pointing down, little motes of mana drifting up from the metal, until she was only a few meters away, at which point both she and the fox-woman sped forward towards one another. A punch directed at her head was ducked under, with a retaliatory slash scraping along another orange shield popping into existence, a second slash directed to the woman's side dodged with a cocky smirk before she was forced to jump back to avoid being swept to the ground with a kick.

Her opponent gave her no respite, chasing after her and throwing three quick punches, the first and third barely dodged while the second managed to graze her chest, thankfully not enough of a hit to hurt her, before a fourth was sent at her prompting a reply in kind. Both fists hit one another, and even with her 'endurance' and 'strength' spells active she barely held against the other fist, a feat that apparently wasn't something the fox-woman was expecting given the slight shock she had on her face. The fox-woman got over her surprise quickly before throwing a kick came into her side.

She braced as much as she could, yet that single solid hit was enough to almost go over her pain tolerance on its own, sending her through the railing of the bridge into the water below. She _would_ have been in the water if not for a hastily set up platform breaking her fall and driving the wind out of her lungs. Immediately upon getting her breath she trusted her instinct and rolled back, narrowly avoiding the fox-woman slamming into the river where she just was in a plume of water, though the she didn't let the rising water to impede her.

A stab through the water found its path blocked by something, so she allowed it to scrape along and off what she assumed was the shield, the mana trailing behind her sword reshaping itself into motes sent into the 'shield' with a simple thought. They wouldn't do much individually, but with the sheer number up above descending, and the amount she was gradually sending into the shield with each swing, it was bound to break eventually.

She managed four more swings at the fox-woman before the last of the water fully collapsed back into the river, allowing both her and the fox-woman to see one another and trading a feral smile and a calm one. Dilated eyes met her own with just a hint of glee and annoyance for a moment after, the moment ending as the woman's shield failed from the fifth blow of her weapon and some large number of motes causing the older woman to leap away.

In a near complete reversal of before, she chased after the woman as another shield was made just as she swung again at her… the amount of shields being thrown around was getting quite aggravating, especially since she wasn't getting through them quickly… Considering she was getting nowhere with trying to overpower the shield, yet another thing she'd have to address at a later date, she changed her strategy and feinted into attacking the shield again.

The moment before she hit the orange shield however, she exploded the platform keeping her above the water, sending both water and herself into the air and momentarily blinding the woman and likely surprising her again. Immediately following that action, she flipped herself to point down and slammed against another platform before immediately exploding it as well to send her over and past the shield.

Her sword lashed out as she passed by, nicking the woman somewhere, where exactly, she had no idea due to both the water and moving far faster than she was used to. Skidding along a platform just above the water's surface, she used her sword as a momentary anchor to twist her back to facing the fox-woman before leaping straight back at her.

No shield was made this time, a move that momentarily caught her off guard and caused her to be hit with an uppercut to the chest, a gasp leaving her before she was sent upwards into, through and over the bridge before landing back in the river.

She managed to catch herself just before she hit the river surface, the platform readily made catching her before shattering and sending her into the warm water, narrowly avoiding the woman crashing down where she would have been had the platform not shattered. Her sword broke through the surface and nearly impaled the woman a few seconds later, missing her target but causing the fox-woman to dodge away from her.

Quickly surfacing she took two gasps for air before leaping aside to avoid the woman again, another exploding platform sending her back onto the bridge railing, a hand reaching the wooden rail and pulling her up. Once on it, she turned around to face the fox-woman before kneeling down to sit on it, legs resting over the wood while staring down at her current foe. It was easy to tell that simple action aggravated the fox-woman far more than anything else so far, it showed in what little remained in the smile turning to a deep scowl.

Otou-sama had said before that people tended to be worse off when they got frustrated with someone… she wondered if that was true? That was a thought and experiment for another time, when there wasn't a job that was important.

Seeing as the woman was seemingly content she took the moment to rest and finally speak once to her opponent, using a… polite tone, considering that the woman was fighting evenly with her, "You're doing a lot better than I expected, at least better than the other girl did when we fought in close-quarters. Then again, she hit very hard with her ranged spells, so I guess that makes up for a lack-luster melee…" She shook off her musing quickly before she looking back down at the woman, who appeared to be a cross between angered and… it may have been pride or it could have been joy… she had no idea, she wasn't good with specific emotions…

She waited a few moments before receiving a reply, the fox-woman being a bit angrier than whatever the other emotion was judging by the lower tone and scowl… maybe… "You're not even close to my Master's strength kiddo, and I haven't been taking you seriously in the slightest. I don't want to upset her if I end up accidently crippling or killing you. Understand kiddo?"

… Well, the other woman managed to annoy her slightly with that, but she put that down shortly after, if she wanted to underestimate her, that was completely fine by her… Then again for all she knew about the fox-woman she could be a lot stronger than her… not a good thought to think. Disregarding that she returned her focus to the woman, eyes narrowing slightly before returning to normal as she gave her short reply to the woman's words, "I think I can handle anything a fox throws my way."

A complete and utter bluff after last week's fight, but the other woman didn't need to know that… and she was now angrier for some reason, talking was done apparently. And with that observation she slipped from the railing back to the water, the woman smashing through the railing and bridge on that side with a single punch, a snarl heard clearly over the destruction above. "Fox? _Fox_? I'm a wolf you little-!"

… She didn't look like a wolf-woman, her tail was orange with a white tip and fluffy, so unless she showed why she called herself a wolf she would remain fox-woman. That little musing of hers stopping the moment her feet touched the platform covering the river, immediately detonating the platform and sending her towards the shore. Where she was supposed to be was obliterated by the woman as she smashed through the remains of the platform, sending a plume of water straight into the air as she jumped back, carrying her further away from the furious woman.

The other woman charged through the plume with a speed that she hadn't show yet, making her twist around an extremely fast punch that barely missed her own shoulder. She swung her blade diagonally in response, only to miss completely and get her legs swept out from under her before being punched in the chest again, coughing once and feeling something wet dribble from her mouth before being sent flying.

Another platform stopped her from being sent into the trees, her back smashing into it, before she made it explode her up into another platform, the woman's next punch passing harmlessly beneath her as she did. She received no respite, as she got a knee pressed into her chest again, much less powerful due to her height though still enough to send her the platform.

Faintly she felt something crack through the pain, before a new punch sent her flying into tree, and then through the tree… with an aching body and several winces of pain, she stood back up as the top part of the tree fell at her side. Given she wasn't being pummeled into the ground and the woman was both waling away and had her back to her, the fox-woman was seemingly confident that she had put her out of commission with that…

She didn't know whether to be grateful for the overconfidence or angered at the dismissal… she settled for both.

… After this, she'd have to train herself harder than she was prior, especially since apparently _trees_ were her hardest hitting weapon out of everything and she could barely lift the things and throw them… That and she wasn't physically good enough to keep up with either of her known opponents, and none of her spells were aiding her enough to really help her out.

Regardless, she wasn't doing the same thing as last time, picking up the fallen trunk with as little difficulty as she could manage, taking two steps forward and hurling her impromptu weapon straight at the back of the woman. This time she said nothing to warn her foe, pulling her blade from the ground just as the fox-woman felt something wrong and looked back, the tree smashing into her heavily with splinters flying from the impact before what remained of the 'missile' careened into the river.

Motes scattered around behind her as she took step after painful step, her free hand rising to her face to wipe off some blood trickling down from her mouth before falling back to her side, the other woman rising a bit shakily from the ground before turning her head around to look at her, a grimace set in place. If there was any consolation in this fight, they were both injured, to what degree she had no idea but they were. But given the way the fight had been and the way it was continuing to go, alongside the fact that the other girl was long gone… there was no point in continuing.

"What is it with you and throwing trees at people kiddo?" The question was sudden, unexpected and said with no small amount of pain, but was a good question regardless from another person. She looked back at the woman, finding her positioning herself back into a stance, even with pain in her form and no small amount of anger. She didn't give a verbal reply to the fox-woman's question for a moment, letting the motes surrounding her fade away before pulling Razing Heart from her sword, her 'Jacket' disappearing in pink light to reveal her normal clothing as she did, while returning her sword to its sheathe.

She didn't give the woman's question an answer, it wasn't like she even had one in the first place, instead she turned around and began heading off back towards home, her parting words being simple enough and were accepted without any further conversation, "I have nothing to gain from further fighting, go home to your Master and rest, you did your job well. Next time though… I'll beat you and your Master and get the Jewel Seed."

She heard a pained chuckle a few seconds after she said that, a "Whatever you say kiddo." caught a moment after the laugh before she faded back into the forest on the long journey home, idly getting lost in her musing again. … Fox-woman was good and loyal to that girl, such a shame they both were interfering, she had the feeling they would get along rather well if that wasn't the case, ha… She'd have to ask for a name next time as well, from the both of them and not just the girl.

Hopefully they wouldn't die or force her to kill one or both of them… the moment the job was done she had no reason to fight either of them, and it wasn't like she hated them or anything, they were only in her way and could be dealt with nonlethally… hopefully…

Her walk came to a stop as recalled where she was, or rather, where she was near… the other reason she hadn't wanted to go to the hot springs in the first place… she really didn't want to, but it was a promise so she'd follow through regardless… even if she _really_ didn't want to… So, after turning back towards the river, she walked to it before turning again to follow the stream, not making a sound beyond the crunch of leaves under her feet as she passed innumerable trees until she came upon a cliff and a large pool the river fed into.

She paid no attention to that or the calm tranquility the place held, her eyes were on something overlooking the water, a little stone marker nestled near some trees, a few flowers laid at the marker's feet… Okaa-sama's grave marker… The moment she laid eyes on it sadness welled up in her, and fittingly the sky let tears fall from its few clouds down onto her in response to the emotion, even though it was only a coincidence, it would let her grief be known even now.

Taking a breath, she quietly went up to the grave and knelt down, laying her sword at her side and closing her eyes, another breath taken before her eyes opened again and she finally said something, "Hi Okaa-sama… It's been a while since I last visited you… A lot has happened since then, Otou-sama's been training me just a little harder than before, and I'm making less mistakes."

She stopped for a moment, her smile sad yet bright as she talked to the grave marker… Okaa-sama maybe would hear her here, this was her grave after all. Her talking continued after a moment, her eyes closing as she talked to Okaa-sama. "I'm nine now… and I started third grade with Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan… Otou-sama's also getting me a sword soon for doing so well in training, he was so proud of me. Onii-sama and Onee-sama are doing well, they came and brought you flowers earlier today, Onii-sama is worried about me and Otou-sama, but we're doing fine."

She stopped for a moment and took a breath, a 'tear' running down her face ignored as she took another breath before continuing with the same sad yet happy smile, "I also got my first job, my employer's name is Scrya Yuuno, though I just call him Scrya-san. He's a nice person, teaching me new things that I can use later. He also gave me a little tool that I've come to enjoy greatly, I don't know if it's a girl or boy so I have to use 'it' to describe the tool. Its name is Razing Heart, and it likes to whisper to me, I hope sometime in the near future I can hear its voice."

Her talking paused for a moment as she remembered something, the sadness retreating for a moment as pure excitement went straight through her body, her voice tinted with it as she began again. "Oh yeah. Okaa-sama, magic is real and I'm someone able to use it! I've made a few spells already, though one fought me all the way throughout making it, kind of like language did and still does…" Her posture lost the excitement quickly, replaced with the solemn sadness and happiness that she had before as the next words came.

"I… also met another girl recently, someone that has gotten in the way of my current job… she can use magic and has and has beaten me twice already… something I'm not proud to say… However, I think I like her. She's quite pretty and she has this woman that acts like her bodyguard, both of them are nice and not unwilling to fight for what they need to do… I'd like to be acquaintances in the future whenever my job finishes…" The next words she spoke were quieter, not really meant for Okaa-sama, but something she felt needed to be breathed out. "Hopefully they will want to as well…"

More 'tears' fell down her face and clothing as she talked about things she wished her mother would comment on or reply to… and finally she let out a silent sob before whispering, "I miss you Okaa-sama… I wish you could see me, and hold me. I wish you could meet the pretty girl and her fox-woman… I miss you… I miss you…" At that point she 'broke down', repeating the last three words several times over for a good minute, coming to a stop before picking herself up and preparing to leave, stopping in place only to look back with a sad smile and give parting words to the grave.

"Bye bye… Okaa-sama…"

She made her way straight home after turning around and leaving through the woods, using the platforms to make her way over the forest quickly and without incident, eventually coming to stop in front of the compound's gate. Once there, she silently walked through the halls to her room and opened the door, taking care to make sure Scrya-san wouldn't wake as she entered, and promptly went over to her bed, laid down and covered herself in the few blankets she had before falling asleep.

A simple dream of her playing with Okaa-sama was the only thing she saw that night, a happy and sad dream where Okaa-sama could see her smile and have fun.

* * *

 _Fun fact: It took Nanoha 220 tries to successfully complete her 'flight' spell. She is that_ terrible _at flying._


	4. Conception IV

_AN: Do not imagine, how Fate would be treated by her 'mother' here. Down that road, lies only grief, especially with the amount of Jewels she takes here. For this chapter, let there be comfort for Nanoha and Fate, both deserve it after this chapter._

 _For I am not kind. And actions have consequences not written._

 _Amount of hugs needed: 3013_

 _Amount of hugs found: 867_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

A week passed by and it came time for school to resume, a… pleasant yet unwelcome change after being able to wander around the woods, relax, and talk with Scrya-san a bit, he actually compliment her 'flight' spell when she finally showed it to him. There hadn't been any more Jewel Seeds in that week, a fact that she was annoyed with but only marginally. Both prior fights with both the fox-woman and girl had taught her that she wasn't… ready for a fight, not yet.

Moving from that, Onee-sama and Onii-sama returned from their trip two days after her fight with the fox-woman, they were happier after what she assumed had been a very nice and relaxing trip for them, and it stayed with them for a few more days before they were back to their normal selves.

Two days after they and everyone else came back, she was invited back to the café by Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan, an invitation she had accepted happily. It was a nice relaxation from the pain, stress and 'annoyance' of her job, one she'd have to partake in every so often, at least for now anyway, maybe if she enjoyed it enough she'd continue even after this job was over… Yes… that'd be nice.

They talked for a while, saying that it was an enjoyable trip, there had been a strange woman that Arisa-chan hadn't really liked but hadn't bothered them, they'd wished that she had come with them, etc. What made her almost twitch was when they said they had taken a stroll through the woods and found a broken bridge and a tree trunk in the water near the springs. 'Apparently', a 'freak storm' had come in during the night and threw a tree into the bridge.

After they were done talking she spoke about her time, she'd done chores, walked among the trees outside her home and played with Scrya-san… Technically she wasn't lying since she was only omitting some of the truth. Regardless the trip to the café was enjoyable, maybe not for Scrya-san as he was held a bit too much by Arisa-chan, and so she was in higher spirits than normal for the rest of that day.

She spent some time with Onii-sama and Onee-sama as well, nothing as… grand was far too great a word… as with Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan, but just as enjoyable, it felt… nice to be around them and 'play' like they had when she was younger… So very nice… She was going off-track again, but that was alright at the moment, anyway aside from her morning training and nightly training she didn't spend as much time training after they got back, she mostly kept to being around her family or friends for the time being.

And that led to where she was now, sitting in class as the clock slowly ticked away the last few minutes, idly recalling this was supposed to be history… She may have blanked out a few times during the class but the Teacher allowed her to… there were a few nice things about being a near-perfect student. The bell ringing tossed her out of her thoughts, just as Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan came over and they started chatting with one another. At some point she must have blanked out again, as Arisa-chan brought her out of it by shaking her vigorously by the shoulders… that hadn't happened before.

After quickly regaining her bearings, Arisa-chan stopping her shaking and herself shaking her head a few times she was brought back out of 'Lalaland' or… whatever it was called by other people, and was greeted with Suzuka-chan looking concerned and Arisa-chan a cross between angry and concerned. "That's enough! You've been spacing out more than usual since you got hurt at Suzuka's!"

She gave a sheepish smile at those words, she hadn't even noticed that she was doing it more than before, normally it only happened whenever she was thinking of training or Okaa-sama, and there was the shaking again.

Now Arisa-chan was more angry than concerned now… not good. "Stop! Zoning! Out!" Once more the sheepish smile returned, but before any words were said Arisa-chan continued with her near-shouting, "And don't you dare apologize either! I know you have issues, I know you can't talk about certain subjects or else you stay quiet for hours or until the subject is changed." Her face softened a bit back to its original angry yet concerned look before adding "So whenever you get done we'll talk again alright. Come on Suzuka."

And with that Arisa-chan marched off, Suzuka-chan making to move after Arisa-chan before looking back at her, a short "Nanoha…" uttered before she waved Suzuka-chan away, giving a dim smile and saying she'd be fine before her friend left. She sat there for a minute before she slouched slightly, her eyes dimming to a near-dead quality before she cupped her hands around her face…

Was this what would happen in the future with Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan, them leaving her alone for stretches of time simply because she wasn't allowed to speak about her profession?

What a lonely fate that would be… at least she'd have Otou-sama, Onee-sama and Onii-sama to alleviate the loneliness. Silently shaking her head of that line of thought, it wouldn't help her in the slightest, she adjusted her expression back to its normal look before continuing with the rest of school, which thankfully was only one more class before she was allowed to leave.

* * *

While making her way home she thought over everything that had occurred in the last week, mainly focusing on her job and training but also dipping into her overall life and studies.

Again, there hadn't been any other Jewel Seeds that she could find or sense, nor had she seen any trace of the girl or fox-woman going around either but that wasn't much of a concern… hopefully. Aside from that she'd talked a bit with Scrya-san while on their outings when it became apparent that nothing was going to happen, just a few clarifications on some of his prior lectures for the most part.

Training-wise with Scrya-san she'd tried, and succeeded in,… convincing him to teach her how to set up a shield, or at the very least give her the theory/steps to shield spells. Needless to say, she couldn't get any shield, or even the lesser barrier, up during the three days between when she asked and now, nor had she made her own off the top of her head like she'd been doing with most of her spells.

At the very least she wasn't blowing up into trees like with the 'flight' spell, she was just… missing something crucial.

Other than that she'd gotten a lecture on history from him, a very detailed one at that which she supposed was to be expected given his stated profession. Apparently Ancient Belka was an incredibly war-like nation that grew to empire status thanks to advanced technology, what kind exactly was unclear to her as she barely understood the terms he had been using. They had long-lived rulers, which Scrya-san attributed towards advanced technology rather than natural causes, that were incredibly strong compared to the average individual during that time.

The reason being behind them not being in charge now was rather simple, the Belkans' world became uninhabitable and most their people settled down quietly among the many worlds, the only exception that he knew of being a lineage called the Saint King. All Scrya-san could tell her about that line was they warred until their last descendent perished after ending the war and was worshipped by an organization called the Saint Church, an 'ally' of TSAB from what her employer told her.

Well there was a lot more that he had said and told her, but those were the major points that she could recall off-hand, which suited her fine for the moment.

Her other training proved only somewhat fruitful, she had finished making her other 'shooting' spell, though it still needed to be modified a little more to be both safe and viable. It was just too slow to be effective right now, and speeding it up would have the chance of making it explode whenever she tried to use it.

Other than that, she'd begun working on seeing what she could do with the mana coating around her blade when her augment was on, so far it looked… promising. Given time she could very likely make something extremely dangerous, but for now, she was settling for just changing the type of force a swing generated, which was more difficult than expected.

Ha… here she was distracting herself from the loneliness walking alone along the sea brought her by thinking of what she'd done… neither Arisa-chan or Suzuka-chan had met up with her after school, which was expected given what Arisa-chan had said… Even so it was depressing being alone again.

Perhaps she was too used to the company of others after the few years, or maybe she just didn't like being alone? She thought the latter more than the former, being alone brought on thinking, and thinking brought along memories best laid to rest if she didn't distract herself with other things.

Well, there was things to be done, and until she was finished she'd endure the loneliness, with only Scrya-san keeping her company. It was best to get used to it seeing as this would likely be her life in the future.

* * *

She didn't manage to make it home before the oppressive feeling of being alone brought her to a stop, her thoughts going through her various issues before focusing on the unintentional reason why she was here, Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan...

It'd been a long time since she was alone the entire way home, not since before she had met her friends… She stood still for a minute before she shook her head and looked around, finding herself having walked into the middle of a park among the trees, not a soul to be found anywhere near her, moving over to a random tree and gently sitting against it to rest and wait until the loneliness passed.

Two years she'd been in her friends' company, Suzuka-chan she'd met before school had started, while Arisa-chan… they didn't get along well back at the beginning, but both of them warmed up to the other after a while, even if a few of the other kids tried to warn them away from her… Something about her being creepy or unnatural because of her always smiling. Suzuka-chan paid their words no heed, she'd known her for longer than the other kids had and wasn't dissuaded from her, Arisa-chan… Arisa-chan got violent twice and that was the end of it.

Her friends were very nice to her.

She'd met Suzuka-chan at her home before the semester had started, about a week and a half before if her memory served right, Otou-sama had brought her and Onii-sama along as he went to speak business with Suzuka-chan's mother. Suzuka-chan and Shinobu-san had been there to greet them in the foyer along with Noel-san and Falin-san, Otou-sama had told both her and Onii-sama to behave and followed Noel-san to where Suzuka-chan's mother was.

Following that Onii-sama had gone with Shinobu-san to her room, which left her with Falin-san and Suzuka-chan. Suzuka-chan was quiet the entire time as Falin-san led them to her friend's room, passing by numerous maids that shrank away from them as they did before arriving at her door.

It had been… an awkward time trying to get Suzuka-chan to say anything to her throughout the entire visit, she acted very timid and wouldn't speak her mind… at least until they had entered her room, and one of the cats had almost immediately jumped and latched onto her face… That wasn't a pleasant experience to recall.

At least she'd managed to get Suzuka-chan to laugh at her flailing with the cat before she and Falin pried the cat away from her… still it'd made Suzuka-chan open up a bit, so that little misery was fine.

By the time she left with Onii-sama and Otou-sama, they were tentatively friends, and over two more visits, once more over to Suzuka-chan's home, and once by Suzuka-chan's family over to hers, they could be called friends. She never did ask or know what Otou-sama talked with Suzuka-chan's mother about, but that was between them, it was probably over some job in the past or a favor.

The first day of school of that year was when she met Arisa-chan for the first time… though not in a good way…

It had started with a walk along the rooftop with Suzuka-chan, Arisa-chan had come up and took Suzuka-chan's headband, and then in the attempt to get it back, she herself had slapped Arisa-chan and it had quickly escalated into a fight until Suzuka-chan had yelled at them to stop… Not the best way to be introduced to someone… even if they were smiling widely throughout the entire fight…

It had taken two more incidents like that before Arisa-chan stopped her bullying, at least on Suzuka-chan, and a quarter of the semester after the last time before Arisa-chan spent time with them as a friend. The few attempts to warn Arisa-chan away from them came a bit later after that, but Arisa-chan dealt with it in her own way, and eventually the other kids stopped, which lead them to how they were now, three friends uncaring of how others saw them.

Breaking her reverie abruptly with a sigh, Nanoha forced herself up from her seat against the tree, dusting her clothes off and stretching to remove the kinks in her bones from sitting against the tree. Somehow, and she'd likely never understand how, the loneliness receded from her as she thought about the past… she wouldn't question it too much, it helped make it bearable to move around again, the least she could do was just accept it.

Now back to home and Scrya-san, then onto walking around fruitlessly searching for a Jewel Seed, and perhaps a chance to meet with the pretty girl again.

* * *

Shortly after her… it wasn't big enough to be called a breakdown… she was bad at describing these things, she arrived home and immediately began preparing to go out with Scrya-san, grabbing a small snack for herself and Scrya-san before walking out with a short goodbye to Otou-sama.

That had been back when the sun was starting to set, around about an hour and a half she'd have to guess, almost two now, since then and nothing had come up like usual, Scrya-san telling her to go home and rest while he would continue searching for a bit longer. She nodded and gave her employer a wave of farewell, one that was returned somewhat tentatively before she was off.

Barely three blocks of walking away and she heard the chiming begin, the distinctive chime she hadn't heard for two weeks letting her know that a Jewel Seed was finally activating, though having two pillars of light and an abrupt weather change was not normal to an activation… A realization was made as she set off in a dead sprint towards the second light, Razing Heart and her katana brought out swiftly before her clothing changed.

A few moments later the world muted itself to grey from something, likely Scrya-san's doing to make sure no one else got involved.

One of the pillars, an orange one that seemed just a bit smaller than the blue one, gradually dissipated as she ran, mana coated her blade with a thought before she heard Scrya-san in her head, rather calm which was nice. _"Nanoha. Can you see the executed Jewel Seed?"_ She gave an affirmative quickly while continuing to run, listening to Scrya-san even as her smile brightened just a minute amount at her realization being confirmed before confusion came. _"That girl and a wolf are here, seal it before they do!"_

Wolf?

Confusion was pushed aside to focus on the task given to her, a thought was given to the distance between her and the Seed, her smile fading back to normal slowly as the thought registered, given the distance and the fact that the other girl was proficient in ranged… she wouldn't make it in time…

…

… _Unacceptable_.

A platform formed beneath her, tilted enough that it would send her towards the Jewel Seed without her sliding down it, her 'endurance' spell turned off as it would only slow her down with the mana once directed at it instead gifted to the 'speed' spell. For all she knew that action could do nothing, to rapidly causing harm to herself or speed herself up drastically, or any combination and variance of the two, regardless of any consequences. A few injuries to obtain a Jewel Seed was a trade she'd take anytime.

A second passed by before she was off with an explosion, flying for a few moments before her legs touched the ground and an audible crack resounded through her body, pain lancing through her left leg that was resolutely ignored with a strained grimace. Another step and she only received a light amount of pain, a third sending worse up into her body, the fourth holding nothing as she fixed the initial issues, with the fifth doing a patchwork fix on her leg to dull the pain. Four more steps and a rushed incantation saw her approaching the Jewel Seed as a yellow beam from above came at it.

Her sword swung out, striking the jewel with a clang before sending it flying away from her and the incoming beam, one last step ending with a stumble and pain which led to her sliding along the ground after the Jewel Seed. Embedding her sword in the ground proved effective at slowing her to a stop by the jewel, her free hand grabbing her prize before finishing the incantation, "… Serial 19, Seal."

' _Receipt: No. XIX.'_ Her smile returned after that confirmation, pained yet content, forcing herself back up to her feet shortly after, heedless of her leg's condition, before looking up at her opponents. Both of them were looking at her in what looked like shock, or at least the orange wolf was doing as good an impression as it could, though the girl looked to be recovering swiftly and focusing on her.

Pulling her blade from the ground she took a step forward… only to immediately almost fall back down as her leg gave out on her… she'd need to patch it more if she needed to keep going, even if that did more harm in the long-run.

Once again, she forced herself to her feet and pulled her katana from the earth, a look up letting her see the orange wolf descending from above towards her, a shouted "Nanoha!" barely heard before the wolf crashed into her, or would have had it not been a green-blue barrier manifesting over her. The wolf, or was it wolf-woman?, leapt off the barrier a few seconds later, sliding along the road as the barrier shattered and revealed the other girl staring stoically with a hint of sadness at her from atop a lamppost.

For a few moments neither of them spoke, then the other girl's device changed into its scythe form, a prompt that made her coat her blade in mana quickly before she let her smile soften as she finally realized something. "I don't know your name, and you don't know mine." The other girl didn't appear to react at those words, standing still and near lifeless much like a doll would with only her cape waving softly amidst the slow wind, so she continued speaking, "My name is Takamachi Nanoha, third child of Takamachi Shirō. What's your name?"

A second passed, then a third and the girl's expression didn't change, a fourth passing slowly before she answered blankly, "Fate. Testarossa Fate." She gave a happy nod at Fate's answer, and with those few words now passed they started their second fight.

It began with Fate rushing disappearing from the lamp and reappearing behind her, yellow scythe set on drawing blood before it was deflected by a pink-coated blade, the blonde-haired girl flying up quickly as she swung her sword at her. A platform was made and detonated on a moment's notice to send her after Fate, her opponent managing to block the upwards cut even as her face clearly showed she hadn't been expecting that action.

The scythe was pushed upwards with only a little effort, her sword redirected into a slash into Fate's chest, a gasp of air let out by her opponent at the hit before the swing was completed and she was sent hurtling away. Fate caught herself quickly with only a moment taken to catch herself before she was off again, flying away from Nanoha as the latter chased after slowly.

The scythe reverted to its default state, the head aimed back at her before multiple yellow beams were shot at her, none of which were paid any mind as she ran straight through them, trusting her 'endurance' spell to do its job. Just as she came close however, Fate seemingly blurred before she disappeared from where she was, a sharp pain along her back letting her know exactly where the other girl had gone, while a look back showed her flying away with another spell-hail sent behind her. She chased after the other girl as quickly as she could, using platforms to slowly catch up and turn through the streets after Fate on a dime.

Three times she got close to Fate, three times Fate rapidly got around her and sent a parting shot with her scythe, four times she went through a hail of yellow bolts without consequence, then came a huge beam that had several weeks prior sent her through a forest. The platform holding her exploded the moment she saw it coming, she had no wish to replicate that event with buildings instead of trees, another platform made as she reached the peak of her 'flight', no movement made as she processed what was happening.

She was still too slow to catch Fate, while she was too durable to be harmed by most of what little she knew of Fate's spells, and what few things Fate had that could hurt her she could either easily dodge or were used in melee. A bolt pinged off her cheek as she started walking towards her foe, taking her time since the small hail wasn't deadly in the slightest, at least to her it wasn't. Chasing her wouldn't yield anything, her first shooting spell wouldn't be fast enough and she didn't have anything to get close enough… which left her with the unrefined 'shooting' spell… could be worse.

Five of Fate's shots pinged off of her as she stopped walking and lifted her sword up with both hands before cutting diagonally through the air, a pink, crescent-shaped light flying from the blade as it ended the swing towards Fate's general direction… hard to tell where she was when there was a sea of yellow around Fate. Her spell lasted for a while, taking a few hits from the barrage before shattering after one too many hit it, but by that point several others were sent in its place to avenge it, yet they too failed to get through the wall of lights.

That tactic wouldn't work, far too many hostile projectiles and too fragile friendly projectiles… at least the spell worked.

Well, onto 'Plan B' then… her leg was going to be a mess by the end of this without a doubt.

Several more of the bolts pinged off her skin and clothing, oddly not even a dull pain gained from them hitting her, as she set about with a quick set of preparations, an idle thought given at why the bolts weren't hitting her platform before she dismissed it and focused. The platform under her was ready, and with a thought she was sent flying through the hail, another platform manifesting amidst the storm ready to take her above it.

A single step with her uninjured leg along the surface taken before she was directed above the storm, another waiting platform exploding as she reached it sending her towards where Fate should be. Two more platforms used to maintain momentum, the storm constantly redirected to aim at her instead of where she used to be as she went from platform to platform, and finally after a half-minute she could see Fate… her device aimed directly at her…

This was going to hurt a lot wasn't it?

Purple lightning dancing along yellow light came forth from the device, gathering at the head for several seconds before flaring out in its entirety towards her. Given she was currently in the midst of 'flying' uncontrollably towards Fate and a platform would take a second more than she had time to make it manifest, she had no viable options to try and get clear. Even still she made a platform in front of her, raising her blade as if to block despite knowing it would do nothing, and touched the platform just as the beam was set to plow through her.

She didn't know why, nor did she understand how, but the moment she set foot on the platform she heard the whispering of her device, louder than it usually was but still too quiet to make out the words. And with the whispers came light shaping itself in front of her, it took the vague shape of a triangle before it began to shatter from the strain of Fate's spell, but the two seconds that half-formed shield/barrier bought her was enough to let her get clear.

Another platform awaited her above, and with only a moment being spent upon its surface she was gone again, though the wild spinning was a vast down-grade from her previous straight line… Her flight was erratic, but she had enough control to keep going in the right direction… maybe… either way with the way she was spinning slashing was bound to miss… which left only one option.

A platform was made somewhere in front of Fate, as well as what looked like a shield spell… hard to tell with all the spinning… she was thankful she wasn't prone to motion sic-

And that was when she hit her platform back-first, a dull pain sent through her reinforced body that turned slightly sharp when it reached her leg, before the platform detonated amidst a shattering and sent her forward into another, her scrambling along its surface for a short time before pulling herself back to her feet. That platform too exploded, thankfully this time she had more control and could see in front of her, sending her back at Fate, receiving several bolts to the chest that stung slightly before she was in front of the other girl again.

A quick horizontal slash was deflected off to the side, the axe-head smashing into her side with an barely audible crunch, a punch dodged before she was uppercutted by the device followed shortly by getting hit by another shooting spell in the shoulder. There was a cross between a snap and hiss heard before a mechanical voice called out _'Arc Saber'_ , and then before she could react or even look back at Fate she was hit and sent flying with a light boom.

An idea came unbidden as she flew and smashed through one of her platforms, a stupid idea but it had worked the first time so she was… hopeful it would work again.

The second platform managed to stop her momentum, albeit barely as it cracked to the point of almost shattering, it served its purpose though as she launched off the invisible 'wall' straight back into and through the smoke cloud. She felt a sharp pain in her left leg, enough to make her grimace before she impacted into something softer than what she was used to, and given the gasp she caught and audible cracking, somehow her 'aim' was accurate… it probably wouldn't happen a third time.

From the cloud they emerged, Fate gripping her scythe, still embedded in her now thoroughly broken leg, with one hand while the other was held out and gathering mana and lightning, a somewhat pained look on her face. Herself… she braced for the building they both were rapidly approaching.

Fortunately for Fate, her device made a barrier to absorb a bit of the impact before they both smashed through it and into the building, the impact jarring both of them away from one another, the scythe coming loose in a spray of blood in the resulting tumble.

In almost perfect sync, two weapons hit the ground and were used as leverage to hoist their masters back to their unsteady feet, herself falling to a knee a second later as her leg finally gave out on her after the hell she put it through. Fate stumbled several steps backward before catching herself and making to come over, only to stop as she cradled her stomach and let out a hiss of pain.

"Fate!" Both girls' attention was drawn to the hole to the outside, just as the fox-woman jumped through with a worried expression, taking in their states with a glance before grabbing Fate and jumping back out into the world outside. A few minutes passed by before Scrya-san managed to get up there, immediately looking over her as she sat amidst the rubble with a pained smile, and telling her that her leg was broken in multiple places.

…That… that was better than him just saying it was broken and stating the obvious.

Thankfully he had enough mana and was recovered enough to teleport her back home, unfortunately they arrived outside rather than inside her room, but it was close enough to her room that no one saw or heard her as they made their way in. It took a minute to take off her clothing and change into her nightwear, and another to bind her leg as best as she could with bandages before she went to bed exhausted and in pain.

* * *

She woke late the next morning, nearly two hours later than her normal wake-up… that was fine for today, given her rather grievous injury from last night. She couldn't let it happen another time though, otherwise she may start waking up at that time instead, which Otou-sama would scold her for… maybe.

Moving on from that, she got out of bed and winced as pressure was put on her foot, she'd need another roll of bandages… and the mana binding she had made up on the spot last night to move around for the day. Though given exactly _what_ her injuries where, she was faring much better than most others would.

Scrya-san could only give her a preliminary… guess as to how bad the damage was, but from the way he acted when he was telling her, she was sure he was surprised that she was both able to move, and still be doing things 'normally'. The best result he got was her femur was broken into three pieces, thankfully still near one another, as was her tibia, also in the same condition. He couldn't get an accurate read on the fibula, but it was likely in a similar state, and that didn't even count the muscles…

All she knew was that she wasn't supposed to be using her leg… at all if it wanted to heal properly… which went against her job in trying to get the Jewel Seeds… it was an easy decision to make.

Despite Scrya-san's insistence, she went about the rest of her morning as normal, doing her morning chore, changing her bandages, sitting down for breakfast and listening to Onii-sama and Otou-sama talk to one another. Most of the time, one of them simply stated facts or requests to the other whenever it was necessary, the only time they actively had a conversation was whenever someone showed up for a meeting with Otou-sama… or was about to show up…

Either way that didn't concern her, those people were Otou-sama's old employers or friends and they would only be coming over if he called for them. They didn't have any reason anymore to call Otou-sama since he retired to raise her and her siblings.

She was roused from her thoughts as a chair screeched back against the floor, her and Onee-sama's attention given to Onii-sama as he got up and glared at Otou-sama for some reason… She really should pay more attention to conversations going on around her… but it was easy to tune it out when it didn't involve her.

Otou-sama gave a blank look at Onii-sama, not saying a word as he calmly stood and beckoned for Onii-sama to follow him with a single gesture, which Onii-sama did after a short moment standing, leaving her and Onee-sama alone. Onee-sama let out a sigh as she finished her meal and began to clean up, she herself finished a few moments later and helped clean the table and dishes, idly wondering what Otou-sama and Onii-sama had been talking about.

She stopped thinking about it after a while, it probably didn't have anything to do with her, so she wouldn't dwell on it.

The rest of the morning was spent normally, she went on her way to school, listened to Scrya-san tell her to 'take it easy today', which probably wouldn't work out well. A random pulse of mana brushed against her senses from behind her, yet she didn't turn to look at it, there wasn't a chime accompanying the feeling, along with it felt like it was a long way away, so it didn't matter at all to her.

With that last thought she continued towards school, leg aching with every step she took but otherwise not hurting, only two rolls of bandages and mana bracing keeping it together.

* * *

… Well school could have gone better…

Everything was fine until it came time for P.E., language had been _good_ today, which should have tipped her off to something bad compensating for a decent time in that class, and every other class went as it always did. P.E. today, more than made up for her having a decent time in learning English and Japanese…

Today they played soccer… the quick version of what had happened was she stumbled and was hit by another student, and she fell straight on her injured leg. The game had stopped when she didn't get back up, and shortly after she was escorted to the Nurse's office, then after a check-up by the nurse that echoed Scrya-san's 'guess', Otou-sama arrived and took her home early.

Otou-sama had immediately taken her to her room and helped her lie down on her bed when they arrived home, coming and going to bring in common first aid materials. Another roll of bandages to swap out the old, now blood-stained ones, some painkillers and water to numb what the little pain there was to nothing. And finally, a 'simple' setting of every bone to roughly where it should be, and pushing one back in…

She was glad the painkillers were first…

Afterwards, Otou-sama went back outside before returning one last time with a second roll of bandages and proceeded to bind her leg back up, not once did he speak about or ask where the injury came from, and that suited her fine. Hmm… she'd probably get scolded by Scrya-san if she was to get up and wander, and Otou-sama seemed to want her to rest if he had put her here, so that left resting until there was a chime…

…

This was uncomfortable…

* * *

Fortunately for her the distinctive chime ended her discomfort about two hours later, and so ignoring Scrya-san's concern that she should be in bed, she grabbed her weapon and Razing Heart before walking out of the house.

Razing Heart went into its spot quickly, changing her blade to its other colors as it socketed into the metal, her bracing wrapping around her broken bones and binding them together again, and finally her flower-ridden kimono and hakama appeared over her bandages.

She… took her time getting there, she ran yes, but she didn't use any of her spells to aid her in getting to the Jewel Seed quicker… she just had a feeling that she had no need to use them to get there in time. Distantly she heard an explosion, and then the world became muted as Scrya-san did… whatever it was that he did to make the world void of others, followed by another explosion as they came upon a park and saw the Jewel Seed…

Why was it a tree?

She let confusion wash over her for a short moment, before shaking herself off and looking at the other two things worth looking at, wolf-woman, as a woman, sending shooting spells at the tree while Fate was flying around sending her own spells at it. With a near-silent hiss she drew her sword from its sheathe, taking a single step forward, covering her blade in light with a thought and letting her own spell loose at the strange… monster… thing…

Whatever it was, her spell did as much damage as the other two were causing, barely any dent at all in the barrier it had. On the bright side, for her anyway, the tree didn't acknowledge her in the slightest because of that, keeping its focus on Fate.

The thing sent roots towards the other girl, none of which came anywhere close to even hitting her before she tore them apart with her scythe, another of her spells was sent from the blade at the monster, where it too failed to hurt its target. Another volley of spells were sent at it, to no avail yet again… looking over at the other two, it seemed that the lack of anything happening was wearing away at the wolf-woman given her expression, Fate looked like she normally did though, even as her scythe reverted to normal.

The 'tree' gave a roar, or something close it, before sending another batch of roots at Fate, and a few lesser batches at the her and the wolf-woman, once more they were dealt with before any damage could be done. She cut them apart like Fate did, and wolf-woman just ripped them apart with sheer brute strength.

Shortly after that batch of roots, they all sent some spell at the Jewel Seed, Fate using the 'big gun' she reserved for her most times, wolf-woman using a volley of spells and herself using another slash.

It worked… somewhat well… the barrier went down after the bombardment spell rammed into it, the following volley splintered parts of the trunk and her own slash sheared a limb off the 'tree', but by that point the barrier was up again, and a host of roots were after them all. She dealt with the roots sent after her the same way as before, though unfortunately she couldn't get all of them even with her 'speed' augment up, which led to her receiving a root through her lower right stomach…

Thankfully it barely bit into her skin, but it still hurt and bled slightly. That offending root was cut off shortly after the pain registered, two seconds later having the last root sent at her taken care of before she performed another stupid idea, she charged.

Her spells were next to worthless at range, despite several being effective at their purpose, most of her spells required contact with an enemy to be useful, so standing back was… not a good idea. Even still charging straight in was probably the stupidest thing to do in this situation, the other method had worked, even if it was slow, and was likely safer…

Then again, she didn't care about safety if it meant her goal was accomplished, her leg was testament to that.

She didn't get far, four roots cut apart before being blindsided by a sweeping root and sent off to the side towards the copse of trees surrounding the Jewel Seed, a slash sent back cutting through the root bef. For once she wasn't sent through a tree, only tumbling across the ground until she stopped in front of one, her sword used to help her up before she looked back at the 'tree', then turned to the tree behind her… another stupid idea.

Another explosion and volley of spells alongside another roar from the thing before she was back on her feet without aid of her weapon, a shout of "Nanoha!" from Scrya-san as he saw her smash part of a random tree away with a hit, a creak sounding as the trunk tipped towards her. She didn't pay attention to another sound as it fell, backing up two steps before swinging and separating the top half of the severed tree from the other.

Then she stepped aside to avoid both parts of the tree before they could crush her accidently, watching it fall with a crash before kneeling down and picking up the lower portion of the tree with a light grunt. Even with a lighter… projectile she still had issues with picking up and holding the thing, mostly from the fact that her leg was held together by bandages and mana. Still she persevered and took a step forward with her injured leg, it'd be a bad idea to put all that weight on that leg, and threw the 'small' missile at her target just as Fate shot another bombardment at it.

The flying tree hit the Jewel Seed a moment before Fate's spell, hitting the barrier around it for a half-second before shattering the barrier and plowing into the thing's… face. A short pause occurred before Fate's spell hit the 'tree' and ended its life, the actual Jewel Seed coming out and floating between the two of them after a moment.

Neither of them moved or spoke, merely looking at one another, they both found cold eyes, one found a smile feigning happiness, the other a blank thin line. Both set themselves up for their next action, Fate's device setting itself into its sealing mode while she herself simply pulled her sword out of the ground and readied herself to charge forward, the Jewel gleaming for a second before both began the chant in sync.

"Jewel Seed, Serial 7, Seal!" She exploded the platform she made at the same time Fate sent a thin yellow beam, both her and the beam travelling quickly through the air at the Jewel Seed until they reached it and clashed somehow. And then she was engulfed by white and sent flying back into the ground with a crash, a wince made as her leg felt most of the impact before she gingerly got back to her feet.

Neither she or Fate said anything as they contemplated what just occurred, Fate's device changing back normal for a moment before turning into a scythe again, casually gripping the weapon with both hands as she did the same with her sword. A moment passed, then another four before she leapt at Fate right as the other girl flew down to meet her, both of them drawing their weapons back to slash before another light decided it wanted to get involved and blinded both of them.

She heard and felt something stop her sword with a crash of metal and a clack as something was caught, then came a voice that made her smile dim, a platform made under her to keep her afloat as she started to slide down. "Stop!"

The light faded shortly after the male voice delivered that word and she could finally see the interloper, a boy older than her by a few years with blackish-blue hair and grey eyes, wearing a black coat with metal gloves, with a single hand holding back Fate and the other holding her back with black staff-looking object.

… As for listening to the boy, who was sternly telling them that fighting here was dangerous and he was an Enforcer for TSAB, she stopped listening after that… He was after the Jewels as well likely… that wouldn't do. She was fine with a second person out collecting the Jewels, Fate was pretty and was probably quite nice, and she was confident that she could beat Fate given a bit of time and a long fight, but a new person? … No… they would have to be dealt with.

He was switching between looking at both of them with a stern gaze for a few seconds before she calmly looked around him at Fate, catching her attention rather easily somehow as she kept pressure on her blade. "Truce?" Fate looked over at her with a quick glance, eyes shifting from surprise to determination, back to surprise with a hint of confusion before settling back to determination, giving a light nod of her head before giving her answer.

"Truce."


	5. Conception V

_AN: Shirō is perceptive, Fate is unsettled, Yuuno is confused and panicked, and Chrono has a wounded pride and is annoyed. Nanoha is Nanoha, rainbows and sunshine with a dabble of steel and cluelessness._

 _Also, Nanoha's growth rate is ridiculous. That is all up here._

 _Amount of hugs needed: 3,714 [(6865+8417+7477+7368+7010)/10 - Round up]_

 _Amount of hugs found: 1,105_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

The truce began with both of them wrenching their weapons out of the TSAB agent's grip, the boy actually seeming surprised at the action before Fate set her device on him, the scythe shifting back to its default state before it smashed into the boy's chest. She was shortly behind Fate, quickly lashing out with her arm and hitting the boy in a little lower than where Fate hit him, the expected gasp let out before he was sent flying from them.

She went after him, running along her platforms as the boy recovered and pointed his stave at her, blue lights flickering into existence around the head of his weapon before shooting at her at a speed comparable to Fate. Fate replied in kind with her own shooting spells, yellow and blue flying past one another and her without hitting their targets… though several shots did ping off her as she ran down. A few seconds later and she was at the ground, the boy having backed off into just inside the treeline by the time she reached the ground, now within relative cover and not under a volley by Fate he shifted his aim at her.

She didn't slow down as he shot a point-blank volley of spells at her, all but two of the nine shots leaving a dull pain on her body as they hit, her opponent's eyes widening in shock before she hit him with her blade, sending him flying into and through a tree as was common… it probably said something that that was common… The boy got back up quickly, seemingly righting himself immediately after passing through the tree and pointing his stave back at her while backing away, an orb forming at the end of the stave as he did.

Motes of pink mana swirled around her gently as she walked forward calmly, it wouldn't do to run blindly into a high-power spell or bombardment like she was prone to do. Thankfully that mentality let her react to the thin beam of mana the boy shot at her, a sidestep letting the spell pass by harmlessly before she continued walking past the lingering trail… until she was hit in the back by something painful and making her stumble. She caught herself shortly after only to immediately get hit by another thin beam and fall to the ground off-balance, irritation welling up inside her before she sent a crescent of mana at him.

The attack missed of course, she didn't aim at all aside from shooting in the general direction of the Enforcer, coupling that with her falling… it was lucky she even came close to hitting him with it. She managed to get back to her feet again, a half-formed shield blocking a third beam long enough for her to get her balance before it hit her, a dull ache at her left rib the only consequence of her failure of a shield.

As she focused back on her current foe, who was charging up fourth orb in front of his stave, a hail of yellow bolts rained from the sky through the treetops, making the boy dismiss his orb and opt for a shield spell protecting him from the spell-fire. Herself on the other hand… she formed a platform underneath her and trusted her augment to protect her from the worst of the rain, tilting the platform until it was pointed at the boy, then made it explode.

The boy barely registered her flying at him, calmly creating a second shield facing her before she was even halfway to him while preparing something for Fate, multiple little orbs manifesting round the head of his stave. And that was as far as he got as she smashed into his shield and, with the help of one of her platforms, shattered it, surprise quickly forming as he turned to face her before her katana sent him up and out of the forest with a light crack into Fate's domain.

She watched through the leaves as he righted himself as quickly as possible, a shield created to take several of Fate's 'heavier' beams before it shattered under the firepower brought on it, but by then the Enforcer was away from the remainder of the volley. She saw a dance of sorts of blue and yellow lights in the sky, motes of pink lifting off steel into the air around her idly as she watched the airborne duel as best as she could. They were… matched evenly really, sort of like how her and Fate were matched, the Enforcer couldn't hit Fate, and when he did it dissipated on one of her shields, and he blocked or dodged her attacks in turn, though he seemed to have the advantage...

... Time to fall back on what worked. A slash broke the wood of the tree closest to her with ease, the trunk slowly falling to the ground as she moved out of the way and let it crash with a thump and cloud of dust. Calmly she walked back up to it and knelt down, beginning to wrap her hands around the tree before stopping… this wasn't like the other times, where her foe was not expecting a tree or was too slow to react… the Enforcer would be alert and expecting something…

Slowly she stood back and walked a few steps away from the tree, creating another platform under here before walking up its surface, her little motes dancing lazily around her as he went. Taking aim, or as much as one can aim with a sword, and sent two slashes at the boy, a bit smaller than her normal waves but hopefully fast enough to hit him. The boy turned briefly to look at her projectiles before he summoned another shield to deal with them and turned his attention back to Fate, who was dealing with… a projectile that twisted and turned as if it had a mind of its own…

Her slashes did nothing to the shield, which was somewhat expected but still annoying, so she immediately swapped to a different plan of action and began to speed up her climb towards him. Three more lighter waves were sent at him as he began to back away, several yellow bolts from Fate shattering the first shield, though the last two failed to connect as he flew around the beams, her own paltry spells barely scratching his other shield. That didn't matter though.

Her platform exploded again, a sharp pain going through her leg ignored as the boy suddenly sped up and made to dodge to the side out of her path, her right arm and leg brushing against another platform before it sent her directly where the Enforcer would be… hopefully. For once things went in her favor, if only barely as she was ahead of him, a hail of bolts from Fate coming from behind her pinging off her skin as the boy brought the shield around to defend against both her and the hail.

His shield lasted two hits.

The horizontal strike from her blade cracked the shield almost to breaking before it skidded off, the following punch shattered it and left the boy in subdued shock, still able to bring up his stave and arm to block the remainder of the punch. It sent him back a ways, giving the impression that he was sent skidding along the air, right into the midst of a small cloud of her motes, the majority having unfortunately dissipated it seemed. They all came at him like a silent swarm, nipping and biting at the cost of their 'lives' and dealing only minor damage, that was fine though, they were only there to be a distraction.

She was back on him before each mote sacrificed itself, her strength augment off for a moment as she wouldn't need it for this, and swung her katana at the boy in a diagonal slash, barely catching him in the chest and eliciting a tiny stream of blood trailing behind her weapon. A swing from the stave was sent at her from the side, a quick parry downwards made short work of the attempt, another slash sent upwards cutting a bit deeper this time and forcing the Enforcer back. A shield was formed, and her augment came back to life, one strike breaking it into pieces before another slash sent the boy flying.

He caught himself, seeming to be breathing a bit heavier than normal as he floated in the air, a quick glance back showed Fate rapidly approaching before coming to a stop beside her. A light giggle came unbidden as she turned back to their opponent, causing Fate to glance at her before looking back at the Enforcer, at which point she spoke her thought out. "He's not much of a threat, is he?" She received a light nod at that, at which point she let out a sigh before returning her focus to the Enforcer, seeing the older boy holding a blue light to where his wounds were.

She started walking towards him again, Fate deciding to fly higher in preparation for… something, the boy stopping the light shortly after she began and looking towards here with a cold expression. Motes drifted off metal to swirl around amidst the cloud rapidly growing behind her, the Enforcer bringing his stave up in response as his mana gathered in four spots around him. Was he getting serious now? Did being beaten by two nine year-olds make him snap, or was it the use of lethal force?

Eyes closed for a short moment, as she shrugged helplessly, she wouldn't know so there was no point in thinking on that, opening her eyes again she saw her foe's mana had coalesced into something vaguely like swords. A small jab sent one of those swords speeding at her, she let the platform holding her up disappear and let her drop to another made below her, the second sword deflected to the side before she was sent back upwards.

Fate sent a hail of bolts from above at the boy as she was flying, a light amount compared to what she was prone to do, a shield formed quickly to deal with the yellow rain before Fate came crashing down on the shield with her scythe, coupled with the light hail the shield broke after several seconds of contact. A quick decision was made by him as she had another platform send her at the dueling pair, both remaining swords at the Enforcer's side pointed at her and fired.

The first was dealt with easily, a shield formed haphazardly to take the brunt of the force before she deflected it off to the side… the second one she didn't have time to react and was impale upon it, blood welling from both sides of her left shoulder. Her momentum was diminished, not heavily but still noticeable, but she kept going forward, a platform made and detonated to her leg's displeasure in order to go and help Fate. She didn't reach them in time before Fate was sent upwards by three of the beams that darted about, she was in time however to… 'tackle' was the closest word, the Enforcer before he caught his breath.

And then they both plummeted down to Earth.

Branch, branch, branch, tree, branch, tree, tree, dirt. Those were what they smashed through on their journey down, many crashes and cracking sounding behind them before they hit the ground in a plume of dust and debris. She tumbled out of the dust cloud with a silent pained gasp, shakily rising to her feet before watching her foe do the same, though he was breathing heavily compared to her light breathing… And then she looked up and her smile brightened.

He looked confused for a moment through the stoic face, then more so when she gave a jovial wave to him before he looked up, and confusion turned to resignation. A pillar of yellow engulfed him, four seconds passing before it dissipated and left the boy standing, another two following before he fell face-first into the ground unconscious.

Looking back up she saw Fate descending from the sky, scythe set up likely in the case they were going to continue fighting… no… that would be a bad choice to choose… Aside from gasping for breath every so often Fate was better off than her, a few scratches and bruises compared to her barely functioning arm and broken leg… if it was just the leg she'd take the odds. Reaching the conclusion she removed Razing Heart from her shaking blade, returning her sword to its sheathe as gracefully as she could with it trembling, much to Fate's confusion.

Glancing over at her arm… it didn't feel nearly as bad as it looked… four… no, five rivulets of red running down her arm, a rather sizable hole in both sides of her shoulder… it was actually surprising her arm was _capable_ of moving despite the wound. Looking back at Fate just before her 'jacket' shattered into mana, her smile softening afterwards to the response of Fate tensing, a sigh released before she shook her head "The Jewel Seed is yours Fate, for fighting with me against him. Perhaps we can team up again another time?"

Fate kept her stance ready but relaxed in response to both the words and actions, returning her device back to its default form and dropping the remaining distance to the ground next to the knocked-out boy. She gave another nod, her face brightening momentarily with a miniscule smile before it faded back to a thin line, moving to turn and leave before catching herself, a blunt statement at her lips as she turned and faced her. "I would have thought you would be more… tenacious concerning a Jewel Seed."

She gave a giggle at Fate's words, a giggle that turned to chuckling before she managed to calm herself, the wound she had nothing but a faint thought as she looked back at pretty Fate. She would be, wounds and injuries meant nothing so long as the objective was complete… however if she died or lost, Fate would pick up her Jewel Seeds for herself, and with how injured she was… no that risk was too much. "As I said, you aided me in putting down the outsider, so it's yours. This time. The next Jewel Seed… I _will_ get it."

Another smile from the pretty red-eyed girl, this one staying for a moment longer than the prior before it fell as well one last parting statement before she walked away through the forest. "I have no doubts… And thank you for your generosity." She gave a wave with her properly working hand at the retreating figure before turning in another direction and beginning the walk home, a quick message to Scrya-san telling him she was leaving the forest. A minute later she was subject to Scrya-san's worrying over her condition and over the incident with the Enforcer… this conversation would end poorly without a doubt.

* * *

They returned to the city fairly quickly, Scrya-san continuing to worry over her until they went into an alleyway to avoid the attention she was gaining… was it really that uncommon for a girl to be bloody and have a katana at her waist? Passing along the back-alleys was… less of a hassle than she would have thought, there were next to no people loitering them, though that suited her fine considering she wasn't supposed to be out of bed and she could speak freely with Scrya-san… not that she was wanting to. Scrya-san eventually called for her to stop and rest, which she complied with and sank down to sit on the concrete without a word, Scrya-san moving to inspect the wound and barely keeping his worry out of his voice.

"… Puncture through shoulder, missed the bone and important muscles, tore supporting muscles… Lethal force was used by that Enforcer… What did you do to make him drop his safety restrictions?" The diagnosis was good, much better than yesterday's injuries, much, much better, the fact that there was a safety restriction in Devices... that was new… she'd have to get a lecture about that another time. As for the actual question… she'd just done what she always did, she fought, she cut, she tackled, and generally beat up the opponent until the situation resolved itself… somehow…

A "Nothing out of the ordinary." received a deadpan look from Scrya-san before he sighed and started to glow green… and become human-shaped… Barely a minute passed and she was staring blankly as Scrya-san, now roughly her size, if a little shorter, with light brown hair, green eyes and a rather strange set of clothes… White shoes, black fingerless gloves, a cloak, a tunic with a strange design on the front with a belt at his waist and a single holster for something at his right hip. Well she'd seen stranger before… cosplayers were strange. "Haa… Did he tell you to stand down or use a protocol of some form?"

She looked up in a gesture she thought people used when trying to remember something, recalling… the Enforcer saying something… she couldn't remember what aside from him saying his occupation… and something about fighting… didn't matter know. So with that she looked back at Scrya-san and gave a small shrug, or the best that she could with one shoulder, resulting in another sigh being drawn out.

A short pause took place before her shoulder felt warm and 'nice', her smile gentler than prior as Scrya-san did something to alleviate her wound. She 'felt' the wound close and pain numb, yet the torn muscles didn't mend themselves back to normalcy… she should have figured that would be how healing spells worked, or at least a lower-ranking one… at least she hoped it was a low-ranking spell. Regardless of that her wound was patched up quickly, letting her use her arm a bit more than she had been able to, which amounted to little more than helping her back up to her feet at the current moment.

They resumed their walking shortly after, Scrya-san remaining quiet for a moment before asking her a simple question, or what should have been a simple question, "Nanoha, why did you attack the Enforcer and side with the other girl?" That was an easy question to answer… though he may not like the actual answers…

"I fought him because he showed that he held intent on obtaining the Jewel Seeds, resulting in a conflict between him and myself. As for fighting alongside Fate against him, I am confident in my ability to defeat Fate even with my injuries should we fight without outside interference, as I'm sure Fate is of the same mind. A secondary opponent that neither of us have any experience with and is capable of matching us for a short time, that would lead both of us to ally against that unknown and deal with them before moving on to each other, it was the best choice out of the two."

Scrya-san gave a slow nod, face set in an annoyed frown for some reason, which was elaborated upon quickly with a combined statement-question. "You are aware that Enforcers are part of the TSAB, and that I am also employed in a different section of TSAB? And because of that both he, along with his backup, are on the same side as us." She was aware, however… there was one flaw with his logic, one she would address so that he would remember that error and correct it next time.

"I am aware. Only, you never said before now that they were your 'allies', which led me to assume that they were either a rogue faction, or you were operating on your own due to this being an… illicit activity." He stopped and stared at her, and so she did so in kind. A minute passed before Scrya-san brought his hand up and slapped his forehead for some reason… gestures were strange things.

He gave a sigh before shaking his head and they continued on, both of them receiving strange looks, her for the sword and bloodstain, and Scrya-san for his strange clothing choice, though they paid the bystanders no mind, it wasn't as if they were going to do anything and neither of them were disturbing anyone. They continued walking in mostly silence, Scrya-san apparently forgetting to change back in the alley and unable to with all the attention they gained, and then they arrived home to Otou-sama waiting at the entrance… this probably would turn out alright… hopefully.

She received a single look-over, his gaze lingering on her shoulder and the barely noticeable limp she had from her broken leg, before he moved onto to looking at Scrya-san, who now appeared to be 'frozen' with something… he was still breathing. Otou-sama spoke one word, a single weight-laden "Follow." before he turned and walked into the house, herself following instantly before looking back and seeing Scrya-san still 'frozen'… now was not the time for that…

She ended up calmly taking him by the hand and making his body walk without his notice until they were inside and a few steps down Otou-sama's hallway, then he finally got himself back together and looked very worried… that was not helping her feel better at all… Otou-sama was already seated with a cold cup of tea in front of him, she spent no extra time seating herself as well, while Scrya-san stumbled a bit before getting seated as well… though with far less grace.

Otou-sama looked over at her first, a blank look etched into his face as he stated, "You have been excused from school for a week's time, your schoolwork will be picked up by your brother and given to you each afternoon, they will be done by the following afternoon regardless of your job." She gave him a nod of understanding, that would be simple to do, unless she got knocked out and even then she'd only have to do it for a week. Then Otou-sama turned to Scrya-san, who tensed before fidgeting under the older man's stare, a few seconds of heavy silence before Otou-sama 'asked' his first question, "Your Name."

It was more an order than a question, but it equated to the same thing, and Scrya-san hastily answered the question as it registered, unwilling to annoy the man. "Scrya Yuuno in your dialect, Archaeologist of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau's Infinity Library." At least despite the fidgeting and general lack of calm he was able to deliver his introduction without any issue, that was good… now to hope that he could do the same for any more of Otou-sama's questions.

Another moment of stifling silence before Otou-sama broke the 'peace' again, this time with a reply rather than a question, "Takamachi Shirō, 18th Head of the Takamachi clan and heir of Sasaki Kojirō." Scrya-san wouldn't know the man who was her and Otou-sama's ancestor, as it was there were very few that would know that name anywhere in the world, the name and other title on the other hand were much simpler. "Now then…" Otou-sama took his tea and sipped it, expression unchanging before he set it back down and pushed it aside. "I take it you hired my daughter Scrya-san?"

A nod was given somewhat reluctantly in reply, the older man not missing a beat as he proceeded to continue his questioning with a calmness she didn't understand, and Scrya-san could definitely use. "That name… it's rather familiar, my little Nanoha brought home a ferret named Scrya shortly before she took on this job of yours… is there any connection between you and that ferret Scrya-san?" And Scrya-san broke out in cold sweat… that is not how you try to keep a secret… you have to keep your body relaxed and natural… and now Otou-sama as chuckling a bit.

"I do not know how you are connected to that ferret, but you are familiar with him… and he's not around Nanoha currently unlike every other time I've seen him, instead you're with her." She facepalmed at the amount of cold sweat Scrya-san had… it wasn't any more than… three it looked like, but he was not holding well in the face of Otou-sama… hopefully this would be over soon. "Back to business…" And so her wish came true, wonderful… "I take you have no place to stay, and no clothing other than what you have on you?"

A tentative nod, and then Otou-sama nodded slightly and closed his eyes, a light humming noise emitted before he reopened his eyes and looked directly at Scrya-san, seemingly paralyzing him for some reason. "You have a room here until you no longer require our accommodations, you'll be given casual wear for around town as well." And then Scrya-san shutdown from hearing what he clearly wasn't expecting… something she didn't expect either since there had never been any reason to have a client stay over in a long time… And Scrya-san was still dumbstruck and it'd be improper to snap him out of his stupor…

It took a minute before he regained his bearings and thanked Otou-sama, the latter hiding a bit of amusement at the boy's reaction… Otou-sama was strange when it came to talking with clients… Otou-sama took a few more moments to be amused with Scrya-san before turning to her, amusement fading as she gave him her full attention, calmly giving her an order to follow after the impromptu meeting. "He will stay in the room two doors from yours Nanoha, his alibi is up to you, and get him a set of clothing to change into for tomorrow. I will inform your siblings of the arrangement."

A "Yes sir." was given before he ushered them out with a simple gesture and she began her tasks, guiding him to the designated room, a more… 'normal' room than her own, a few decorations on the wall, some light paint coating the walls, a decent bed with several pillows and blankets, and a wardrobe, two lamps and desk off to the sides. Overall more lively than hers by a bit… or a lot…

Next came clothing… her own clothing was about his size and ambiguous enough that he could wear it… and it wasn't like she was lacking for clothes either, so that would work… that just left an alibi as she went and got a few sets of clothing… Relative… no they didn't look alike, not even mentioning that it was common knowledge that most of the family was killed in a terrorist attack… Family friend was plausible… the Takamachi's did have many family friends, and it wouldn't be a stretch to assume Scrya-san was the child of one of those. And client… no one would believe that a 9-year old was capable of employing someone, let along one being a professional assassin/bodyguard, so that left friend as the only plausible option.

During that quick thought process she managed to get to and enter her room without conscious effort, moving over to her small dresser and quickly pulling out three sets of her clothes from the two drawers, making certain they were damage-free before setting them off to the side, that should last him long enough before proper clothes could be bought for him. She closed the drawer quietly, standing up with Scrya-san's temporary clothing in her arms and making her way back to his room, entering without announcement since the door was still opened and placing the clothes on his bedside without ceremony or words… Was there a reason he was holding his head in his hands?

* * *

Fate quietly sat on her bed, Arf currently downstairs tending to… something and leaving her to think on the past happenings… including her mother's treatment of her earlier today. She had failed mother greatly… only bringing her three Jewel Seeds in several weeks' time… she'd have to do better and beat the other girl… Nanoha… for mother's sake… and for big sister's sake… always her sake…

That lead her to the girl that constantly was in her way, the always-smiling, tenacious, blood-thirsty girl named Nanoha… That girl unsettled her at the least, at most… she was terrified of that girl. The first time they had met she'd only been able to put her down through the use of multiple Arc Sabers and Thunder Smashers, andshe _withstood them_ and _tackled her_ shortly after the Jewel Seed was sealed… and that was when she couldn't fly, was forced to throw trees instead of spells, and couldn't catch her.

Then there was the skirmish between her and Arf… the fact that she was able to injure Arf so much while fighting in Arf's preferred type of combat was frightening, and that didn't even take in the fact that in the span of a week she had _made_ a new form of flight spell, at least that was the only thing making sense with the explosions at her feet and her walking on water. If she made spells in the span of a week, her growth was greater than hers and they were already roughly the same after only two weeks… what would she become after another three?

… It was a race against the clock now rather than a simple fight between her and the other girl to obtain the Jewels… and even with Arf backing her up by the third week would the other girl be able to match or beat them? At least… the other girl was crippled a bit, her leg apparently wasn't working and she constantly had a limp while moving… On one hand, she was relieved, that injury settled the odds in her favor as long as Nanoha's leg was broken… on the other… she was sad that she'd inflicted that injury on her…

And then there was the Enforcer that showed up. Without Nanoha around she wouldn't have been able to fight him well or gain the Jewel Seed… or be able to say she forced an Enforcer to remove their safety restrictions… That girl had issues if her first thought was teaming up with her opponent to take on a newcomer, before even taking stock of the situation… it worked out in the end for them but still.

Going back to the Enforcer and TSAB, mother had entrusted her with gathering the Jewel Seeds for big sister, no matter who or whom got in her way, so she wou- _couldn't_ fail. Though the fact that the Bureau had arrived in the first place with an Enforcer was cause for concern, she doubted the other girl had called them, otherwise the truce would have been between her and the Enforcer instead… Now there was a three-way fight for the Jewel Seeds now instead of her against Nanoha… and the Enforcer would be more willing to start with his safeties off now.

There were so many things that… didn't make sense about that girl… she just hoped the rest of the Jewel Seeds would appear soon, or else Nanoha would overtake her…

Her knees were brought up to her chest before she wrapped her arms around them… that girl… how was she able to barge her way through volleys of shooting spells with barely any form of damage? How was she capable of hitting as hard as a _bombardment_ spell with a punch of all things? Why was her device seemingly stuck in lethal configuration? Why was she so willing to truce and let a Jewel Seed into her grasp when she was risking herself for every other one… Why was she so friendly with her despite being enemies?

Arf came up from below, carrying what looked like a meal in her hands, one look at her and Arf set down the meal and sat down on the bed and hugged her tightly, one she leaned into slightly… one last question crossing her mind before she relaxed in her familiar's embrace and drifted off into sleep…

… Why did her eyes not match her smile except when it turned gentle?

* * *

Chrono Harlaown was having a… unpleasant day. First his mo- Admiral, took to teasing him throughout the morning and afternoon alongside Amy, then came the skirmish that shouldn't have even happened where he was beat by two girls younger than him… his pride as a mage was damaged to even think that. And now… the Admiral was asking him to recount the incident in detail… there were times when he wished he was old enough to drink and now was one of those times, at least she was taking this more seriously than usual.

"…nd you were beaten by two girls not even in their teens, both of whom have higher mana reserves and output than you do. I take it that sums up the basic summary of your interference and the aftereffect." He gave a stiff nod in response, the Captain taking a sip of her tea, relaxing before a small smirk suddenly grew on her face… it was too good to be true… "Would you like to explain more in detail how you were beaten by these two girls or will I have to re-watch the footage a third time?"

… Why… Why did he have to be on this case with Admiral Harlaown? Why not Admiral Graham or one of the more 'serious' Admirals… or at least one that let him tinker on stuff. He gave a sigh in his head at those thoughts and instead turned back to his mo- Admiral! Admiral while on duty, mother when off duty. … He looked up at her and met her gaze without hesitation, calm green meeting steely blue before he answered,

"The girl who started the engagement, the blonde-haired girl with yellow magic, is a high-speed, high-power melee combatant by appearances. She seems to be proficient in high-speed combat and high-penetration spells and was overall a _ridiculously hard_ target to hit. Out of roughly 4 dozens spell exchanges she was hit once and that was from a Stinger Snipe, I personally didn't get a chance to see the results as the other girl fought with me as she was hit. Her spells are potent even within the safety restrictions, and her scythe that she used in most of the melee engagements was barely able to keep from crossing the line. Her Bombardment spell in particular was quite nasty, penetration alongside power over a large area is a deadly combination."

"Personality-wise she seemed to actively hold back in some cases until I fired a few larger blasts in response to her and the other girl's spells, and even then she held back considerably more than both myself and the other girl."

He took a deep breath, idly noting that the smirk had dimmed slightly on the Admiral's face in response to his report, he was glad, that meant she wasn't just acting serious earlier, but was treating it seriously, one of the good qualities the Admiral could dredge up whenever it was necessary… now came the worse report…

"The second girl provoked the incident, asking the first girl truce, implying that they were behind the disturbance earlier and are actively competing for the Lost Logias for whatever reason. Moving on, she is a straight-up melee combatant, she preferred to fight with her fists and device than with any form of spells. Compiling that style and her strength and durability, she is a living juggernaut, slower than both myself and the first girl in straight up flying, but far more durable and packing a punch that puts several of the lower level Bombardment spells to shame. Her durability is as annoying as the other girl's speed, only add terrifying to that and you get what it's like to face it, medium power shooting spells deal no damage in the slightest and high-power make little headway."

He looked the Admiral in the eye again, the smirk fully gone for the moment as she gave him her full attention, before continuing with the second girl. "It took the use of four Stinger Blades in lethal setting to get through that defense and only one of those actually hit her. In addition to this her durability also applies to physical objects as well, I got treated to a front row view when she tackled me through three trees and multiple branches. I saw the barest hint of a limp in her left leg, most likely a prior injury that wasn't healed yet, but aside from maybe slowing her down she didn't show anything wrong about the limb."

"Her spells… they are completely and utterly foreign. I didn't recognize any common Mid-Childa or Belkan spells she used, and her shield was barely formed every time she used it to even know the system she uses. I saw four spells get used, the first was her flight spell, a strange spell since she wasn't flying… more standing and running on air than any recorded spell, she also seems to be able to detonate the spell to increase her speed for a short time or change directions quickly. Her second spell seemed to be an augment, her mana was around the edge of her device's blade and seemed to enhance the blade and looks to power the other two spells."

"Then there were her shooting spells… they barely could pass for shooting spells, one made spheres from the mana coming off her that did next to nothing except provide her a distraction, while the other sent a wave of mana from the device's blade. Neither of them works remotely well in a duel between mages, which further reinforces her image as a close-combat combatant."

He stopped for a moment to catch his breath after that long-winded report, the Admiral strangely quiet as she waited, sipping her tea noiselessly as she waited for him to continue. All that was left was to say what he got of her personality in combat… and that was where the conversation would go from bad to worse… he just had a feeling it would, and rarely did those feeling prove him wrong.

"Her demeanor in battle… she acted like a battle-hungry warrior that only wanted to fight until everyone around them was down uncaring of injuries, yet that act was tempered by a… cunning of sorts. She used several maneuvers that left me on the receiving end of her 'tender' ministrations several times through the battle, including setting up the end of the battle. She also didn't care about having the safeties on in the slightest, either that or her device didn't _have_ any… both are equally worrying, but not frightening."

"… What was frightening about her wasn't the battle-lust or the cunning lying behind it… what was frightening was the fact that not once, even when she was hit did her smile falter… it was like the smile was… as much a feature of her face as her eyes were. If it weren't for her smile changing slightly depending on circumstances, I would have called her a Doll or Android, as it stands… that just makes the fact more frightening and confusing."

He let out a sigh as he finished his report, hanging his head slightly and thanking the medical officer that they could remove the soreness from his bruises. He let another sigh out, one of relief as he picked up his own tea and brought it up to take a sip before freezing as he saw his Mother staring at him… his feeling rang true… this was going to get worse…

They stayed in frozen silence for a few seconds before he finally managed to gather himself and drink his tea before setting it down, by then Admiral Harlaown finally spoke again since the beginning of his report, her voice lacking most of the cheerfulness he was used to… it was getting worse… "So what you are saying is that we have two girls, both of whom have an average magical power of over 1 million, that are clearly willing to fight a lethal fight with magic to gain one of these Lost Logia."

… It got worse… he gave a slow nod, watching as the Admiral slowly raised herself from her sitting position back to standing, leaving her tea and son behind as she went a bit farther into the heavily Japanese-styled room. He heard the Admiral murmur to herself as she looked for something, "Where did I put you…" … he was certain he didn't want to know what she was looking for, or why she was looking for it in the first place… so he went back to the tea and sipped it… it needed more sugar…

"Enforcer Harlaown." That immediately snapped him out of his reverie, nearly dropping the cup as he was shocked back to lucidity… She never called him by that unless it was for teasing… hearing her saying that in a serious tone was unnerving… and then came the rest of the statement. "Given your report and video evidence, you are to receive reinforcements in the field effective in four days' time." … It was now beyond worse… he knew what that meant, and while some would see a AA rank mage as beneficial… they hadn't worked with Admiral Harlaown before…

"But before that…" Her voice was turning back to normal now for some reason as she stopped him from leaving… and then came the request… please no… "Be a dear and help me find my damn device. I'll need it considering those twos' apparent 'Shoot first, Ask never' mentality." Well… on the bright side the Admiral was back to normal… on the other… he'd be subjected to his mother during the excursions and have to help her find that nut of a Device…

Saint-King what did he do to suffer like this?

* * *

 _AN: In honor of my classmate and... 'friend' I give this chapter. He passed away far too soon and was a greater man than me, may he rest peacefully in the embrace of the Lady Death, and dream a wonderful dream. Goodnight and Goodbye._


	6. Conception VI

_Amount of hugs needed: 4,479 [(6865+8417+7477+7368+7010+7653)/10 - Round up]_

 _Amount of hugs found: 1,647_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

The week passed quickly, and unlike the prior to weeks, it was filled with event after event after event. First was the simple, work that Onii-sama brought her, despite her ability in most subjects, with the amount of work her job entailed she barely was able to make the deadline each day… sleep was lost for several nights. At least this time the lack of sleep was minor, barely a few minutes, but they still took a bit of a toll on her.

Second was her going out for the Jewel Seeds with Scrya-san, those excursions… with the added threat of the Enforcer those skirmishes turned into a lot of property damage, which thankfully didn't translate to damage outside of the barrier Scrya-san set up. That boy was a credible threat, especially whenever he stopped trying to just use knock them out and started using lethal damage… in his defense she couldn't turn her safety restrictions on for some reason, not even counting that Razing Heart seemed to be inactive.

Regardless those battles were quickly becoming a ridiculous and deadly affair, there were buildings falling down every once in a while, several trees or lampposts thrown, a lot of minor injuries and a fair amount of punching/tackling into buildings or trees… at least Fate was on her side whenever he showed up. Over the course of the week four more Jewel Seeds had appeared, three went inactive while the last one turned into a bird… that was a strange fight and more than a little annoying.

Of the four, she had only claimed one of them, an inactive jewel Seed she had 'stolen' from the Enforcer when he thought both of them were out after he swooped in when she and Fate were tired fighting one another. That expression on his face made the pain in her leg worth it as she took off with Fate doing the same. Fate herself had claimed two of the Jewel Seeds, the bird being one of them, the fight they had over that inactive Jewel was very brutal… she'd been hit in the leg by one of the blades the Enforcer used… it hurt far worse than when Fate had broken it.

The last one, went to the Enforcer, both her and Fate had arrived too late to get the Jewel and decided in tandem without any communication that it wasn't worth trying and had left. That left only six Jewel Seeds left from what Scrya-san said. Six more left until there would be a final battle between the three of them to see who would obtain the rest.

And the last major thing she had had this past week was practice, train and experiment with magic, mostly focusing on her shield spell. The results… told her she was just as terrible with shield spells as she was in flight, more so probably given that Scrya-san could break her shield with a simple Shoot Barret… a spell he was not well-versed in.

There were two things she learned from this before focusing on a 'solution', either she could make a shield fast, a few seconds compared to Scrya-san's near-instant, and have it be as fragile as glass, or have it take time, nearly a dozen and a half seconds, and be somewhat sturdy. Given that information, her endurance spell was much better and more practical… however it had limits as was evidenced by every battle she had. Which is why she made a 'better' shield, which essentially made it smaller and more compact than the regular shield she was trying to create… it was certainly sturdier and quicker to create… the fact that it was barely the size of her chest made her question if it would work though.

Then again, she wasn't going to be using her shields like they were supposed to, just like how she wasn't using her shooting spells as projectiles, both were distractions meant for her to slip through and close distance, this shield... she didn't know what it was going to be used for, but it would serve her better than the one she had been using. At the very least it would hold better than the other had, and that on its own made it worth her while to make it.

Then came Sunday, and everything decided to go wrong.

* * *

It was cloudy when it started, but the spike of mana and rain cemented that it was Fate's doing, the Enforcer didn't do any magic relating to weather nor did he ever use enough mana to suggest he had enough to cause the storm which made the only option Fate. Quickly she and Scrya-san gathered themselves and their, mainly her, items and headed into the forest for privacy before he teleported them 'near' where the mana spike was… which turned out to be over the middle of the ocean, thankfully with land in sight.

In the direction of the mana spike were 4 waterspouts… likely most of the remaining Jewel Seeds… this wouldn't end well would it? Regardless of that feeling of slight 'dread' she started running forward the funnels with Scrya-san behind her shortly, making out wolf-woman up above monitoring and maintaining the barrier while Fate was battling the Jewel Seeds. She sped up her pace and exploded the platform, her body aimed straight at Fate as she flew, Scrya-san heading up at a slower pace towards the wolf-woman to provide support of some form.

She heard the wolf-woman shout something, but couldn't make out what with all the noise she was in, high speeds plus unobstructed wind equaled a lot of noise apparently, she could however see the result as Fate turned her head in time to look at her just as she was about to pass by. She twirled as gracefully as her situation could amount to, a respectable amount, and landed feet-first into a platform behind Fate, hand quickly reaching out and grabbing Fate by the back of her cloak. A pivot saw her throwing Fate straight upwards, and a continuation of that pivot saw her fist clash with the… 'lightning' that made up this Jewel Seed's form that had tried to sneak up on Fate with her distracted.

She won the contest of strength, the bolt of 'lightning' dying with another replacing it closer to the Jewel Seed, and proceeded to fall off her platform towards the Jewel. It sent its 'lightning' at her, she tore them apart with a single hit from fist or blade each, twisting mid-air to avoid those she couldn't destroy and crashed down on the Jewel Seed with a plume of water. The waterspout it was in fell apart shortly after she hit the Jewel Seed, the thing not acting out anymore but still active and willing to cause issues.

A look back up saw that Fate had took her tag-in from the 'duel' in stride, immediately going over to another waterspout and beginning to dance with it in another 'duel', as well as the wolf-woman coming down on the second waterspout as Scrya-san took over maintaining a barrier. That left the third waterspout to her, and she happily obliged the Jewel Seed in a duel of its own, though the duel lasted barely a minute with her brute-forcing the Jewel Seed to 'sleep'.

The other two were finished by the time she dealing with the Jewel, which left them floating above the ocean with fo- … make that six Jewel Seeds, a heavily breathing Fate and a very protective and concerned wolf-woman. Scrya-san was floating lower to their level as the Jewel Seeds were herded together from their positions, and it appeared they would either have a polite, if strained, conversation for once.

Of course, her earlier feeling of 'dread' decided to rear itself and show why the feeling was brought about before conversation could start.

Another, lighter, spike of mana heralded the Enforcer appeared in his black, spike-covered 'glory', causing all four of them to turn in near-sync at the bane of their hunts… and then came the second 'heavier' spike. The figure that appeared was… not what one expected for a person entering into a battlefield, a blue uniform with coattails and a few insignias strewn about, white pants, black dress shoes, white gloves, her green hair tied into a waist-length ponytail, green eyes half-closed in bliss as she sipped from a _teacup_. Who in their right mind would bring a _teacup_ to a battlefield?

All four of them tensed at the sight of her, then became puzzled as she brought up her left hand and held one finger up in a gesture that should mean 'one moment'… maybe… it was that or 'no, no, no'. Considering she didn't move and the Enforcer had a hand to his face, she assumed it was 'one moment', which let her to have her polite conversation with Fate and wolf-woman, though not on the topic she would want. "How many of them can you seal at once Fate?"

The other girl glanced over at her before turning back to the strange woman and Enforcer, taking a few moments to think before she replied, "Four, four sealings and I'll be out for a short period of time." She gave a small nod at that, that left both Scrya-san and wolf-woman left, and both of their roles were easy to put together.

"I'll get the rest then. Scrya-san, can you prepare a teleport back to the city?" She received a wary nod from him, still after a week of skirmishes he wasn't comfortable fighting the TSAB, but that was fine, he wasn't the one fighting. As for the teleport's justification, Fate was tired and would be a liability in a fight if she tried to join in, and there were two opponents this time, they had trouble enough with just the Enforcer with how he teleported after they were done 'clearing' the Jewel Seed. Which left the wolf-woman and herself in the worst position. "Wolf-woman, we're the rearguard."

The currently wolf looked at her strangely before shifting to her human-ish form and cracked her knuckles, before she turned her full attention back to the TSAB mages… the woman _still_ drinking from her teacup even after that short bit of planning. After the third minute of drinking, tension turned to disbelief as the woman showed no sign of stopping… a teacup shouldn't have that much tea. At least they were allowed a short reprieve that let them get their breath back due to the.

Finally, after the fourth minute the woman opened her eyes fully and lowered the teacup, a wide smile in place as she looked over them… why did she get a worse dread as that gaze passed over her? The woman's eyes closed and her smile turned 'innocent', head tilting to the side shortly after… this was wrong… so very, very wrong. And then she spoke, a light voice saying words that made almost no sense to say in this situation. "What polite children you four are, it's been so long since someone let me finish my tea in the field, much politer than even my Chrono."

… There was something wrong with this woman… something very, very, _very_ wrong, even the Enforcer thought so since his hand was still on his face and he was shaking his head. Seeing that none of them were going to respond, either because of confusion or not wanting to speak, the woman let out a sigh and continued, shaking her head and opening her eyes as she did. "No banter? I'm disappointed, I haven't had a good banter on the battlefield in several years, everyone just tends to run away at the sight of me."

Another period of silence, now just made from confusion as none of them knew what to even try and say to the strange woman, before she again sighed and shook her head, "You four are no fun. No fun at all. Haa… Might as well start then at this rate." The woman glowed a light green for a few moments before the glow shattered and revealed… a mostly unchanged, strange woman. There were the obvious changes, there was armor covering her chest, her shoulders and hips, there was only one coattail and the insignias were gone and her shoes were replaced by dark cyan boots. Aside from those changes and a single earring on her right ear, she stayed the exact same as she had before she donned her Jacket.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the teacup… the teacup had become a _warhammer_ … a 2 meter long warhammer made of iron and gold, the handle one long grip from head to gold pommel, the head roughly… 40cm by 60cm by 40cm by random guess. None of them were expecting that, _who would_ expect a teacup to be a warhammer? And then the strange woman's strange device deigned to speak… in a British accent…

" _I am the Ladyship's Hammer of Head-patting, the Disciplinarian of the_ Arthra _, the wre- no they're too young for that one… moving on, the magnificent Teahammer of the Admiral, Bob."_

… What?

Firstly, who names their weapon _Bob_? Next, who has a Device's default state be a _teacup_? And lastly, why did it have a British accent… why even have an accent? Everyone else appeared to be even more dumbfounded than she was and that was before the woman chimed in cheerfully, smile in place like her own was despite the mass confusion. "Now for my introduction~. Admiral Lindy Harlaown, Captain of the _Arthra_ and Connoisseur of fine Tea, a pleasure to face you all." … Was the last bit really necessary?

Even the Enforcer was looking at this crazy… or was it eccentric in this case… probably both, Admiral as if she wasn't making sense… which she wasn't but the point stood. Well, there wasn't anything they could do but go along with it and hope this idea would work… she doubted it would but who knew at this rate?

Fate's device shifted to its sealing mode, and both her and the wolf-woman were off, her temporary partner flying at the Enforcer, herself at the Admiral… she felt that she got the short end of the stick for some reason. She crossed the gap between them, quicker than the wolf-woman did with the Enforcer she noted idly, and was instantly almost hit by the woman's hammer, the thing was far faster than it appeared. A quick twist saw her ducking under the hammer's head, the slash she sent in return blocked by the handle and sent careening away with a push… well, this wouldn't be an easy fight.

The Admiral carried through with the motion of her push, the pommel of her warhammer almost whipping into her face were it not for a quick backstep and deflection with her blade. Quickly she made her platform explode underneath her and send her into another a bit above the Admiral, watching as the woman's swing passed through where she'd been a moment earlier. Just as quickly she made her new platform detonate her at the woman, the Admiral's weapon in no position to block or parry with it nearly behind her back in a short recovery.

She went to strike, and was blocked by a green circle of mana that was made instantly in response… it didn't even crack from her blow…

In response, she received the hammer to her chest, a gasp let out from the force of the blow amidst a miniscule crack of bones, an audible _'My apologies Madam.'_ being the last thing heard before she was sent away from the woman. She caught herself after losing the momentum from the swing, sliding along a long platform until she finally was brought to a stop, looking back at her opponent only to find her still smiling like she was, face the picture of innocence and the warhammer lounging on both shoulders.

Thunder sparked behind her, her smile brightening minutely while her opponent's fell slightly, the hammer falling from its place and taking up a more 'normal' relaxed stance, right hand holding the hammer near the head while the left held nothing, the rest of the handle sticking into the air behind the woman. Fate was sealing the Jewel Seeds, it was almost time to leave, just hold off the Admiral for a little longer, just delay a bit longer… there was no need to win this fight.

The woman made to fly towards Fate and Scrya-san, orbs of mana manifesting for a moment before she went back to do her self-given task, her opponent's attention turning to her before the shooting spells shot at her. Spells pinged off of her, something that was fast becoming a normal staple of battles, as she ran towards the Admiral, the platform giving out on her before she reached the woman and letting her dodge the far too fast swing, an augment maybe or just a momentary spell? Didn't matter now, what mattered was making it out of her alive, conscious and not captured.

Respect was due where it was deserved, and she gave Lindy Harlaown plenty of respect in the short minute they dueled despite the eccentricity she held. Not a single hit was made on the woman's skin or Jacket, everything blocked or sent away with the Device known as Bob or blocked with a potent shield that resisted everything she could throw at it. The woman though had landed three more hits, most had been dodged or deflected but she still made mistakes, an unexpected thrust to her left hip that sent pain shooting through her leg, and a pommel strike whipping her in the face before the head smashed into her chest again… she would be sore by the end…

Still, she managed to survive the unceasing barrage of strikes and occasional shooting spell, those were more… probing than dangerous and not much of a threat, and was still able to move. She backed away, keeping close enough to be a threat while remaining out of reach of that strange device… it apologized every time it hit her, it deserved strange at the least. It certainly fit its owner… wielder… whichever it was, quite well.

The woman got back into a relaxed stance, rolling her shoulders twice before switching to her neck and stopping, a content smile on her face when she finally stopped gave a happy sigh. "It's been a long time since I've had such a good warm-up~." … _That_ was not promising in the lea… And that thought was immediately discarded as she ducked under the Enforcer… somehow being used as an impromptu wrecking ball with an orange chain… she didn't want to know what was going on with him and wolf-woman…

And the Admiral merely stepped to the side to avoid the Enforcer, seemingly amused by the act even as the Enforcer was thrown down into the roiling ocean with a flick of the chains. And then came Scrya-san's shout, and with barely a glance at the eccentric admiral she turned and went flying towards the two remaining Jewel Seeds with a shattering of glass, idly hearing Fate call out "Arf" before watching the wolf-woman immediately move back to the girl… simple name. Quickly the incantation for a sealing was said as she neared them, lashing out and catching one before skidding along her platform, turning around and preparing for the other before noting something rather vital.

Namely how fast the Admiral would react and give chase…

If there was one thing she was allowed to be annoyed or mad at, it was the fact that she could only seal one Jewel Seed at a time. Maybe it was because of how she envisioned the Device, maybe it was Razing Heart, or it could just be the spell itself, but while her version was fast, it was unable to do quantity, which was the single reason she had Fate seal those Jewels at once and leave herself vulnerable.

But she didn't have time to be annoyed, not getting hit by the warhammer and getting the Jewel Seed was more important than cursing, much more important. She quickly swung herself to the side off her platform to avoid the Admiral, another platform receiving her before giving its life to send her at the remaining Jewel Seed as the woman recovered and banked around for another swing.

Though her sealing spell was quick to cast and quick to realize, she still needed bit of distance or a bit more time to make use of it, which brought her to the second stupid idea thought up this evening, grabbing the Jewel Seed with her bare hand. Scrya-san shouted her name, the woman slowed down and stared in shocked surprise, even the completely drenched Enforcer just rising from the waves looked at her like she was crazy. Well they had reason to, she was gritting her teeth at the pain her right arm held from containing the active Jewel, and there were bloody furrows being marked into her skin the longer she held it.

She poured her mana into it, trying to quell the thing even as she turned around to look towards Scrya-san, Fate and the wolf-woman/Arf, seeing shock, and what looked like fear from Scrya-san, in their face and posture… she didn't understand the reason for the latter from Scrya-san, it was just another wound among many. The Jewel lashed back at the attempt to bind it, she kept binding despite the pain, and through gritted teeth she looked at Scrya-san and shouted a single pain-tinged order at him.

"Go!"

He hesitated, looking at her then to the Enforcer that was turning in his direction before making his decision and disappearing with their 'allies' in a teleport. She would be the rearguard for a while longer it seemed… Ha… haha…

She couldn't have gone with Scrya-san, Fate and Arf in the teleport, the active Jewel Seed would have disrupted the teleport, so she'd made the decision to stay behind with the almost certain chance she'd die or be captured. Despite the pain and likely fate awaiting her, she let out a laugh, despite the bloody wounds etched in her hand and forearm, she allowed her hollow laughter to ring out, despite the two foes surrounding her, both of whom could take her out by themselves, she prepared for an end.

The Jewel's light and struggles ceased slowly, her smile turning slightly feral as she sealed it into Razing Heart before she calmed it back to normal, it wouldn't do to be taken out because she got overzealous and overly bloodthirsty. She turned back to her foes, the Enforcer unnerved by the laughter she made while Lindy wasn't by the look on her face, just a bit of wariness beneath the smiling façade.

Her laughter stilled, and she looked over both of them, the boy about to say something before she pivoted, flooded her muscles and bones with mana, and proceeded to run almost as fast as she had the night she'd broken her leg, even though that strained said leg a lot with that amount of force. The woman was after her almost immediately, launching a barrage of green orbs at her that went ignored amidst the flight.

A crack was felt in her other leg as she exploded the platform she was on, flipping once during her rising to send a crescent that was immediately blocked and look back at the two, the Enforcer was further behind than the Admiral, a couple dozen meters roughly, no more than four dozen, while the Admiral was only about ten from her. Hmm… that would work, not a threat at all, but a distraction at the least.

She hit another platform upside down, running along it for four steps before gravity asserted its dominance and forced her to fall, another of her platforms catching her before she started. Motes of her magic flitted off her blade and drifted backwards, an idle flick releasing a small cloud of them that lingered behind her, at best they would slow her pursuers down, at worst… they'd do nothing but waste a tiny amount of mana, a fair trade.

She could see the city rather well now, it wasn't distinctive, but it was still able to be made out, the skyscrapers in particular… even thought they were off-color… a barrier erected by Scrya-san likely. Another two clouds of motes left behind her to hopefully distract her pursuers apparently failed to do anything as a hail of green bolts swept through them, those actual shooting spells took five of her motes to dissipate one shot, well that plan didn't work too we-

And then came a 'gift' from the Enforcer, one of those annoying single-shot spells that homed, that hit her directly in the back of her injured leg. She stumbled and lost her pace, Lindy punished her with a single swing and an apologizing hammer.

She didn't get sent into the ocean… no instead she went through the barrier, something she only understood as not letting anyone incapable of magic inside of it to see magic performed, and sending any magic-users into a space similar to the area was set around, any damage resulting there would be gone by the time the barrier dropped. And through the barrier, she hit a skyscraper… smashed into it and then through it out the other side, into the side of another skyscraper before finally hitting the concrete below.

She tumbled for several meters before eventually slowing to a stop on her back, looking up into the sky at a smiling Lindy leisurely descending from the sky, hammer on both her shoulders with both hands lazily draped over it. The Admiral beamed down at her, though the woman's eyes were without the jovial expression every other part of her face had, looking over her as she raised herself off the ground with the aid of her sword and bleeding arm. "Would you like to reconsider the choices that lead to this or do I need to send you into another building?"

A blank stare was sent at the woman, then turned to regard the lamppost next to her spot on the road, and then again to the Admiral… that answer was very, very obvious. And so, she acted quickly, swinging her sword through the metal, her free bloody hand catching the detached pole and throwing it in one fluid motion. It sailed straight and true, quite fast for an object of its size but still slow enough for the Admiral to react to. A shield was made by the woman, while she made a platform under her feet to send her after her projectile the moment it went down.

The lamppost flew, soaring 'majestically' until it struck the emerald shield with the strength of... something, maybe a bombardment spell, regardless the metal projectile ground against the light for a second, then two before it _ricocheted_ off and went spinning somewhere… _great_. Then the woman decided to continue talking, and with it she got ready for a beating that probably wouldn't be trumped in her life. "I'll take that as you want to be hit through another building. Ha... kids these days, reminds me of when I was a cadet."

From the sky fell the warhammer-wielding Admiral, but by the time the woman touched the earth she was already moving away further into the city, she could possibly win this, if she did it right, she had next to no confidence she would win, but the chance was still there. There was little she had over this woman, she was weaker than her, her shields were worthless, and she had to push her body to the limit to keep out of reach. Her strength lay in her endurance, her mobility and her willingness to do anything to win, or at least take out her enemies.

Which is why, upon the first alleyway, she immediately set up a platform, ignoring the hail of bolts that the woman really should realize did next to nothing, and shot herself into the alleyway. Lindy slowed her pursuit, a disadvantage that flight spell had compared to hers, having to stop or bank in order to change directions instead of being able to switch directions on a dime, and turned minutely to face the alleyway.

She detonated a second platform immediately and tackled the surprised Admiral into the side of a building and into it. The first thing noticed the building had _a lot_ of office equipment, the second was that there weren't any walls aside from the outer walls just two posts holding up the higher floors, and the last was pain as the warhammer swept up and slammed into her chest, lifting her off the ground and into the ceiling. A gasp was bit back as the ceiling crumbled above and then below her, before she hit the second ceiling and fell onto a random desk with a crash, lying there before she heard humming and immediately bolting from the cubicle.

She tried her best to remain quiet as well as quick while running amongst the building's maze of cubicles, but unless one was a master of stealth or from a clan/family of Iga, noise would be made, and she was neither. She was however without any footwear and was used to treading lightly in the woods, both of which aided her in her being undetected by the Admiral, though for how long remained to be seen. Keeping her pace, she managed to reach the outer wall after a few minutes, the cubicles somehow made this a miniature maze and she'd hit a few dead ends, which resulted in lost time and more chance of the woman finding her. Thankfully the latter hadn't happened.

Well, that entire ordeal could have gone better, but it did prove it was possible to hit the Admiral and deal some kind of damage, now though- "Found you~" … That was terrible timing and too … she needed a quick exit the 'easy' way, as well as hope that she wouldn't be too injured after it was over. And with that she turned to the outer wall, braced herself and charged through it… directly into a hail of blue bolts and homing beams, the Enforcer had arrived.

Thankfully the damage he did was minimal and she broke out into an alleyway, immediately allowing her to dart away and around a corner, a random pipe on the side of a building gripped and ripped off its side carried along with her. It wouldn't do any good against the Lindy, not with that shield being as strong as it was, but against the Enforcer… it would do well enough.

At the midway-point between the alley she had come from and the next one over, she pivoted on her foot and brought her pipe-laden hand back and took aim… and saw nothing there… of course he wouldn't be behind her. And with that thought came a confirmation in another hail of bolts from behind her, most pinging off of her skin as she spun around to face the Enforcer, finding him floating above the air amidst a light screen of dissipating smoke… why… no, that was a question for another time, if there was another time.

Without any flourish or unnecessary motion, she sent the pipe flying, and it flew straight, true and far faster than any tree or lamppost she'd done before. The Enforcer brought a shield up, but by then the pipe had already embedded itself into and through the boy's shoulder, payback for the magic-blade a week ago, though less severe than hers. With that she detonated a platform and immediately set to engage the boy, darting above the alleyway and momentarily forgetting _why_ she went into the alleyways to begin with.

She was reminded why with the warhammer sending her into another building straight from floor three to ground floor.

A low groan was let out as she regained her bearings… somewhat, the world kept spinning for some reason… she must have hit her head on something on the way down. There were a few walls that she could see, a broken long table and projector, and a wall with a water cooler against it outside the glass window… what was with all the offices she'd landed in today? Regardless she picked herself off the broken splinters of table and immediately went and jumped through the window the moment she looked up through the hole she had inadvertently made.

She heard a sigh behind her as the person she saw landed and walked after her, "Will you stop already? You're just going to get more hurt the longer you keep at this. Or do you just have a hearing problem when it comes from people you're fighting?" … That woman liked to talk… she liked to talk far too much, and the words she chose made sense only after a bit of thinking on it, so chose to ignore her words and focus on her surroundings, her opponent, and finding a way to at least _hurt_ the Admiral. … And unfortunately, short of bringing the… where were the structural supports located in an office building?

One of her crescents was sent flying at the Admiral, it wouldn't do much, but then again, she never intended it to even when she made it, as she ran away and through a wall. She needed to bust a wall down… which one she had no idea, or if it was just one or more, she just needed to do it if she wanted to hurt the Admiral at all. She barely heard another sigh before she cleared the debris and ran through another wall to the complaint of her bones and muscle, before immediately bracing herself and barging through the door of the closet she found herself in.

Behind her she heard more shattering and splintering and took that as a que to duck, something she could barely hear passing over her head and setting a small pile of what felt like paper on top of her. Quickly she got back to her feet yet again and looked ahead of her, back into the street through the holes made in the wall… the Admiral wasn't holding back anymore it seemed… and judging by the cinderblock and rebar jutting from the wall, those were the supports along with three… no, four pillars placed around the floor, the fourth had been smashed into pieces in whatever volley her opponent used.

Just going from prior experience with the trees she used as projectiles, she'd need a lot more strength than normal, which meant pushing herself as badly as she had pushed her leg… this was going to hurt, this was going to hurt a _lot_. Even still she did it with a smile on her face, strained as it was becoming from pain and weariness, because she'd made a promise never to let her smile die, and promises were as binding as contracts after all.

The first pillar of the three was dealt with quickly and with only the barest hint of effort from her, as the Admiral came after her with her mighty, British warhammer named Bob… that was something she'd never thought she'd think… Anyway, the Admiral swung her warhammer and took care of the pillar she'd set herself next to, easily breaking the concrete into rubble as she scrambled away to the next one and chose the 'easy' way. That is to say, she activated all of her augments, poured mana into 'speed' and 'strength', and detonated a platform to send her into the pillar, it hurt a lot less than she expected it would…

One pillar left, and already the ceiling was beginning to groan and give way, cracks forming along its length as it tried and failed to hold the weight atop it. Dust fell onto her as plaster cracked and ruptured, but she paid no attention to that aside from the faint brush against her skin, she had a hammer to worry about.

Her blade functioned well enough as an anchor for her to stop her forward momentum and as a fulcrum to send her at the last pillar, it served just as well to deflect the hammer's pole enough that she wasn't hit with the Device's head, a random desk instead taking the brunt of the blow. She sent a punch at the woman, fully aware it wouldn't do anything to Lindy as a shield manifested in front of her punch, that wasn't the point though.

Her fist hit the platform she made in front of the shield, and she braced her body as well as she could for the explosion that followed, and sent her flying wildly through the air. She caught the barest hint of a crack in the shield before she heard the cracking of her own back and pieces of wood as she went through several cubicles and into the remains of the inner wall. She landed against a relatively intact piece of the wall, a platform awaiting her landing and sending her hurtling at the last major-looking support for the building.

A hail of bolts pinging off her skin were ignored for the lack of threats they were, at least until they decided they were explosive partway through the volley. Even with that momentary surprise they didn't do much damage or impair her too much, surprisingly they weren't much stronger than any of the other bolts she'd been hit by before. The only issue those spells brought was the smoke that obscured her, something that nearly cost her as again the Admiral's Device came to try and end her token resistance.

Yet again, she deflected the hammer away, ducking under the pole's pommel as best as she could when it swiped at her face and hit the floor running with a jolt. Mana flooded her legs and right arm, and with only a few steps and an even more broken leg barely supported by her brace of mana, she arrived in front of the pillar before Lindy had any time to do more than begin to give chase. She lashed out with her free, bloody hand and struck the concrete with all the force she could muster, pain similar to that which broke her leg shooting up from her curled fingers up to her shoulder as she forced her augment past what it was meant to hold.

Blood welled up from her wounds and ran across her skin, something tore somewhere in her arm and she heard at least one bone crunch, but it was worth it. The pillar cracked where she hit it, fissures marking the concrete as something crashed down behind her, likely a piece of the ceiling, but even with the fissures and all the force she put behind her punch, the pillar didn't crumble into pieces. So she did the obvious solution, rear her fist back and hit it again as hard as possible until it broke apart, an action that actually worked on the first try for some reason… though her arm felt warm and 'fuzzy' when she punched.

She fell through the rubble the moment it was mostly pieces of debris, mostly from her actual endurance finally giving out and demanding she rest for a moment, landing on her hands before rolling onto her back as she heard groaning and cracking above her, letting her see her opponent looking at her in disbelief. Her smile brightened at that, finally she would hurt Lindy, finally she would at least make her distraction somewhat worthwhile, then the woman shook off that disbelief when a section of rubble nearly hit her.

The Admiral looked up at the collapsing ceiling, acknowledging it with a smile before calmly leveling her hammer up as a piece of rubble fell a meter to her side, addressing her Device in a warm and cheery voice that had no place in this situation. "Bob, be a dear and take care of this please." A single moment passed by before an answer of _'As you wish your ladyship. Safety Restriction Sixteen has been lifted.'_ was given amidst another piece of rubble landing just a few scant centimeters left of her own head.

… No… please no… _'Firing Blaze Cannon on your mark.'_ The Admiral waited a second, another piece of rubble failing and almost touching the hammer's head before she gave the order that 'broke' her. "Fire~"

She saw green erupt from the warhammer, and with it came a deafening roar as a _massive_ beam of mana came forth. It tore apart the falling rubble, random equipment and furniture with a malicious glee that encompassed the entirety of the four falling floors above them both. Lasting only a brief seven seconds, that simple spell of destruction took away all of her hope of even scratching the woman in a brief flash of light. Once the last motes of light faded away, Lindy looked over at her fallen, slightly broken form and gave her a childish smile that somehow looked sad for some reason… she was winning, why was she sad?

"Are you done yet? I can keep going for a while if you want to." … Yes… yes, she was done… her body was exhausted after everything, the strain her spells put on her on top of that made her feel like she was back starting her training with Otou-sama again, not a pleasant feeling at all.

No… there was one last stupid idea she had… and so far, only the stupid ideas seemed to work. At the very least she'd go out with a fight rather than a whimper.

She dragged herself out of the rubble and onto the street, the Admiral following her out at a leisurely pace with the hammer slung on both shoulders, though her face said otherwise of enjoying this… well that was _nice_ to know she wasn't sadistic… not that it did her any good. At this point she had nothing left to try, ambushing worked once, a straight-up fight alone ended poorly, and dropping a building was easily remedied with a single spell… truly this Admiral seemed tailor made to easily best her… or at least the magic she specialized in… If she made it out of this she would be making or learning something that would deal with shields, this was not something she wanted to go through _ever again_.

"One last chance, surrender now or get hit upside the head and placed under military arrest." She didn't pay attention to the words, they meant nothing and were likely untrue… after everything this past week and today there was no way she wouldn't be under arrest by the Bureau even if she did surrender, she'd just get a lighter sentence when everything was done. So, she chose not to give a verbal reply and did something that was… unexpected in this situation, she performed a 'dance', really nothing more than simple steps and spinning while her katana glided through the air and left motes in its path.

Step right, step back, twirl once and look right, step back, step left, step forward, twirl twice and face the opposite way, step left… And on it continued until she stood amidst a cloud of pink light thick enough that she could barely see outside, and still she continued making a cloud of pink light until even those glimpses of the outside were covered. Just like she lost herself in the sword dances she partook in with Otou-sama, she lost herself in this simplistic dance, though unlike the sword dances she kept herself fully aware of where the Admiral was.

That was more vital than this simple distraction.

A minute passed by, by then she had nearly finished this 'dance' of hers, one last thing to do… one last distraction. Her blade, the only thing aside from the sheathe that she could say she treasured, was thrown straight upwards through the cloud, unfortunately spinning as it went. A second waited before she turned and ran in a seemingly random direction, a platform greeting her wordlessly before sending her hurtling forward out of the cloud, directly into Lindy, the woman having enough time to get a shield halfway formed before she crashed into and shattered it.

It wasn't elegant, nor was it refined… it was simply punching and kicking with all the force she could muster with her 'strength' spell at the fastest speed she was capable of going without breaking her bones with 'speed' spell, and it worked... kind of. Three hits to the Admiral's chest, another two into her side, a jab at the collarbone shifted to the shoulder, two kicks into her legs, a punch to the face and a few missed blows amidst the sound of cracking twice.

And yet despite that the Admiral stood tall, and a single shield blocking her fist heralded the end alongside three of the Enforcer's homing bolts slamming into her back. The woman's hammer came around, its pommel embedded itself into her chest with a somehow sad-filled _'Apologies.'_ following her gasp for air. The pommel then decided to leave her chest for her head, whipping her cheek while another line was stated, _'Safety Restriction Two released.'_

If she had been able, she'd have laughed a hollow, mirthless laugh. As it was she was out of breath… and then the hammer's head came singing through the air towards her head, truly this would be the worst beat-down she would ever experience. The hammer hit her head and she quickly began to lose her sight and thoughts, before that though...

She heard Razing Heart's whispers… gentle and fleeting… she could almost underst-

* * *

 _AN: Jewel Seed count as of the end of this chapter, Nanoha has/had 10, Fate has 10, and Chrono/TSAB has 1._


	7. Conception VII

_(Remove sentences within [] when posting, keep them in the document so you're aware of what they mean)_

 _Amount of hugs needed: 5,259 [(6865+8417+7477+7368+7010+7653+{7846-7-20-21})/10 - Round up]_

 _Amount of hugs found: 2,018_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

… _She had a nice, strange dream._

 _She was in a room made of cobblestone, a single window of stained glass letting in vibrant colored light and a framed bed with white translucent curtains in the complete center of the room. Everything also seemed larger for some reason, like it was made for a giant rather than a human, there was also the fact that there weren't any actual lights aside from the window and she was on a table._

 _There was a creak, like that of a heavy wooden door being pushed open, and shortly after came happy giggling somewhere behind her as someone entered the room, she couldn't turn around for some reason but that didn't bother her much. She heard… something that sounded like words, but she couldn't make sense of them… it wasn't English or Japanese though that was certain._ "- -~ Bist du schon wach? _[- -~ Are you up yet?]"_

 _A girl, or at least she assumed it was a girl from the long hair and her size in relation to the grand window and bed, skipped into her field of view and started rummaging around the room for random items. She was wearing a dress, a bright white with an embroidery of red wings on the back, and seemingly nothing else aside from a similarly white bow in her hair that served no purpose other than decoration. The girl herself though was as strange as the place she was in, loose black hair reaching her back, skin pale enough to imply she'd rarely seen the sun and carrying around some… contraption in her arms._ _"_ Mutter lässt uns gehen und im Garten spielen für ein bisschen, bevor wir zum Unterricht gehen müssen! _[Mother's letting us go out and play in the garden for a bit before we have to go to lessons!]"_

 _After that sentence, whatever it meant, was said, she stopped her rummaging and set down the contraption on the floor and began doing… something to it, the simplest way to put it was 'working on it', like everything else in this dream she had no idea what purpose that served. Upon not receiving any answer after a while, the girl stopped and looked in her direction, stopping her tinkering on the contraption, before placing it on her arm and making her way over to the table she was settled on._

 _Two different colored eyes, one a strange dull yellow eye and the other a pitch-black eye with a red ring surrounding where the pupil was… like Razing Heart if the Device was an eye instead of a jewel, stared at her, both seemingly sad for some reason as a disappointed frown marred her face._ _"… - -?_ Schläfst du noch? ... Wann wirst du aufwachen und mich wieder unterhalten? _[… - -? Are you still sleeping? … When are you going to wake up and keep me company again?]" For some reason, she felt herself begin to speak, and the girl's face immediately brightened to the point of rivaling a full moon as a smile blossomed, the first strange word was on the verge of her tongue -_

 _And then the dream ended,_ and she woke up to a blindingly bright, white ceiling.

Immediately she closed her eyes in the face of the blinding white, and slowly blinked her eyes open and closed until she could actually see and not be blinded by the ceiling that wasn't her own, hers was more muted and didn't have as much light. The second thing she noticed upon waking, was she couldn't move any of her limbs or sit up and each time she tried there was a rattling sound… why was she bound in emerald chains to a table? Oh… that's right, she'd been beaten by the Admiral and the strange teacup-hammer and uppercutted by a hammer directly to her head… there was the reason for her lapse in memory.

After clarifying where she was… somewhat, she turned as best as she could to look around the equally blinding white room, noting a few machines that were apparently plugged into her, something that looked like an IV, and several tables holding medical equipment… wasn't she meant to be in cell or something similar? The fourth thing she noticed after all this was something that bothered her slightly more than the fact that she was in what amounted to jail, her katana and Razing Heart were nowhere in her line of sight, and she was back in her normal attire… she had expected the former to happen, she was under arrest or similar after all, but not the latter…

She was about to continue looking around at what little remained when the single door to the room opened, revealing the Admiral and some man in a labcoat talking to one another, only for the man to stop mid-sentence when he noticed her up. For some reason the man saw fit to point at her with his face set in shock, "You! How are you up? You're not supposed to be awake for another week at the least!" … That didn't make any sense… everyone was supposed to wake up every day regardless of how injured or tired they were, that was what Otou-sama had drilled into her head.

The Admiral… Lindy was her name, was calmly sipping from a teacup as the man darted over to one of the machines with a monitor on it to check something, then moved to another to do the same thing while continually muttering under his breath. The chains rattled again as she adjusted herself slightly to a bit more comfortable, the… 'Doctor' immediately focusing on her with a severe expression on his face, a casual "I was uncomfortable." managing to make his expression tighten… strange.

"Uncomfortable? Uncomfortable?! Most of the muscles in your limbs are torn, your entire skeletal system has cracks through it, and you have a concussion courtesy of the Admiral! And that isn't even including your left leg is _shattered_ into _thirteen_ pieces! You shouldn't be able to stand up or move, let alone fight just from the pain!" … So? She already knew her muscles were torn, she had felt them tear themselves apart, same for her skeleton and left leg especially, though knowing the entire thing was riddled with cracks was a surprise, and the concussion made itself known rather easily… Why was this man just stating things she already knew?

He seemed to be getting frustrated with her lack of response or concern, at least he seemed to until Lindy coughed and brought herself back to his attention, upon which he pinched his nose and seemed to 'calm' down and continue checking the equipment, though he remained annoyed at her for whatever reason he had. And with that she received the full attention of the serenely smiling woman… _great_.

"It's good to see you awake, even if it's abnormal for you to be up after that kind of injury, you should really know better than to fight when you have no hope of winning." … Why was it good for her to be awake and why were they saying it wasn't normal for her to be up? The woman seemed to notice the confusion she felt, since her smile dimmed a bit before returning to normal, but she continued rather than explain why. "Well, now that you're up, we can get to a few questions for as long as you're able to." … An interrogation, she'd expected that, she could handle that. "First question, what's your name?"

Her name… she'd given her name to Fate and Arf, the Enforcer and Admiral must have heard it with Scrya-san shouting it during the skirmish above the ocean, it wouldn't hurt to give her name, not her titles, just her name. "Takamachi Nanoha." The woman took a sip of her tea after her name was said, seemingly in thought over something before stopping and nodding her head.

"Takamachi Nanoha… the culture here says their family name first and then their given name… I think. I really should have gotten to that chapter in the book before meeting a local." And then she started musing to herself in the middle of an interrogation… and the 'doctor' kept working without a single look… was she really this eccentric all the time that people were used to it? Lindy shook her head lightly after a moment of musing, eventually dragging herself out of her eccentricity and getting back to… drinking more tea… this woman was strange. "Second question, why are you after the Lost Logia?"

… Lost Logia… what was that? This time she schooled her expression to not show her confusion, keeping her smile 'normal' and remaining silent, even if she didn't know what that was, she could guess they were just a different name or classification for the Jewel Seeds, but aside from that she had no idea. Either way she stayed silent for a good minute before the woman's smile started to slip and she moved on to the next question, "Well… if you're not going to answer we'll move on. Do you mind explaining why your Device is set to lethal?"

Once more she didn't know, though this time it was less understanding the question and more she didn't know the answer, so again she remained silent and watched as the woman's left eye twitched twice before she let out a sigh and put a hand to her face. "You were cooperating so nicely when you first woke up, and now you're as still as a statue and not saying anything at all…" … She didn't expect that to sound like a somewhat dignified whine… and then she composed herself almost immediately after… there had to be a word past eccentric for Lindy, this was becoming far too strange.

"… Last question, since I highly doubt you'll cooperate and I have to ask something else to follow protocol, can you explain how you're able to shrug off shooting spells?" This last question she could answer, though she was entirely sure it would be worthless to the woman, so she opened her mouth and gave her one word reply.

"Magic."

The Admiral stared blankly at her the moment the word finished, as did the 'Doctor' the moment he comprehended the word, and then the woman's hand rose and held her face before shaking her head and taking a deep breath. She'd be lying if she said she didn't find Lindy's reaction a bit funny, though she tried her best not to let it show and mostly succeeded aside from a twitch of her smile, something that thankfully went unnoticed.

It took a short minute for the woman to compose herself after that, a sigh uttered before she began shaking her head, "I knew that was going to be said, I knew that would be said and still wasn't prepared for it…" Ceasing her head-shaking, Lindy looked back at her, donned the serene smile she apparently liked to wear once more, and reached and patted her on the head twice. "Well, I have other things to attend to Nanoha… chan… Nanoha-chan, yes. So, I must leave you for now, until this case is over you'll unfortunately be under military arrest. I'll try and get you a cup of tea on my next visit, I'm still trying to get the right mixture together but I know you'll enjoy it."

And with that the Admiral was gone, and she was confused… she might as well start planning an escape, Otou-sama wouldn't be happy that she wasn't home before ten last night, and she was only making the hole deeper the longer she made him wait. And then the 'Doctor' came over with a needle, gauze and far too many bandages… well, it appeared she was getting her injuries treated… that was annoying but helpful.

This would be a long wait, wouldn't it?

* * *

Hmm… what could possibly have delayed Nanoha enough that she would break the curfew beat into her by her mother? … Then again that curfew was almost entirely just 'be home and rest before three A.M.', not much else, but still in the four years that'd she'd listen to her mother, Nanoha had never broken that curfew, even now when she went out late at night and came home with injuries. Scrya-san had returned alone with a dejected air surrounding him a bit after dark, he'd been guilty about something and had refused the food Miyuki-chan had tried to give him.

Haa… Of course Nanoha had this kind of employer for her first… it would have been kinder to both Scrya-san and her if she'd had a heartless employer the first time.

A hesitant knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts, the knock itself and the way it was delivered telling him immediately it was the boy he had just thought about, Kyōya-kun knocked more… assuredly while Miyuki-chan and Nanoha _never_ knocked. "Enter." Without even so much as a breath, he gave permission for Scrya-san to enter his room, the boy skittish to be in here along with tension as if he expected something bad to happen. He had no reason for either of those to be directed at him, it was only Nanoha, and before her Momoko, that warranted that reaction.

He picked up his cooling tea and took a sip of it with one hand, the other beckoning Scrya-san to sit with him, which the boy hesitantly did… was he really that unnerving to a stranger? … Momoko-chan and Nanoha must have rubbed off on him without his notice, and there was also the fact that he _had_ to be 'blank' when around Nanoha… that was an idiotic clan tradition he was forced to uphold. "Scrya-san, what brings you to my humble room this evening?"

The boy fidgeted and he felt a twinge of annoyance bubble once, normally reserved for the idiots that thought they knew swordsmanship better than him, before he clamped down on it, there was a reason Scrya-san was here, and he'd be patient with the boy. Finally, after a minute of silence and tea-sipping, Scrya-san brought himself to speak, and though his voice wavered in the beginning, he held onto something and delivered his question, "Are you… Are you worried for your daughter and wondering where she is?"

Was he worried for her? No, not in the slightest, Nanoha was trained in the ways of the 'Royal' branch of the Takamachi clan, she was prepared by her mother and by himself for the outside world, no he wasn't worried for her. Did he wonder _where_ she was, absolutely, however he wouldn't let his thinking distract him from the routine Momoko-chan and himself had, and he still, stuck to. So he said as such without a hint of doubt, "No, I do not worry for her, though I do wonder where she's managed to get herself now."

Scrya-san looked at him with surprise, clearly expecting… something else instead of his answer, perhaps he was treated to overly-worrying parents or family far too much and it seemed to rub off on his expectations. For a short few moments the boy seemed too shocked to speak before he finally brought himself together, a slight amount of anger tainting his voice and visage as he spoke, "Are you really that unconcerned for your daughter's wellbeing?"

Unconcerned, not in the slightest. He worried for her, he worried that one day he was going to have to bury an empty coffin for a girl who never married, he worried that he'd never get a grandchild to spoil, he worried that he'd never get to see Nanoha's smile again, fake as it was it was still a beautiful thing to look at. He worried far more than he should, Nanoha could take care of herself, she'd proved as much when she'd earned the right to be considered a Monster and prodigy in her first spars against Momoko-chan.

" _Scrya-san_." The boy immediately lost all of his anger when he heard his voice, tension instead welling up as he assumed that he'd said something wrong and was treading on dangerous ground, well at least his 'cold voice' still had the desired effect even after not using it for five years. "I have my reasons for not being worried, and should you know what those reasons are you would share my 'lack of concern'."

His guest appeared hesitant after his… 'loss of composure', as he should for indirectly claiming he didn't care for his daughter, before the boy gave a question he… probably should have expected in response. "Then… please, could you explain why you have so much faith in her?" Explain why? That was a simple enough request… though how to go about it, there was the short version, and then the long, history-filled version. He'd give the choice to the boy.

"There are two ways for me to explain, one is the short way, and the other is the long way. There would also be the _very_ -long version, but that's not something that can be told in a night. Choose and you'll get an explanation Scrya-san." The boy took a moment to register the choice, and then spent a good half-minute deliberating on which to choose, eventually coming to a decision.

"The long version… and could you just call me Yuuno? After everything that's happened because of me I don't deserve to be addressed with respect." Somehow, he had expected the long version would be the one chosen, though he hadn't expected his guest to try and refuse the respect he was due. It wouldn't do to address an employer, even if he wasn't the one employed, without respect… nor would it due to go against their wishes… there was an option.

"As you wish Yuuno-san, this will be a bit long, so make yourself comfortable." The boy twitched at the sound of the honorific being put with his name, but otherwise just nodded and shifted into a more comfortable position. Now then onto story-telling… ha, if only Momoko-chan were still alive, she was so much better when it came to these things. Well he might as well start at where the family became a clan and the man that had prompted that change.

"The Takamachi clan has been around since at least the Sengoku Jidai, roughly five hundred and fifty years ago during the time of civil war, and they have lived and _thrived_ during that century and the centuries since until the second World War, roughly sixty years ago. They are related to a great swordsman of legend, a man named Sasaki Kojirō who was renowned for being the rival of Miyamoto Musashi and for developing a technique that let him cut swallow that was in flight. The clan that would adopt this warrior into their family would be a clan of monsters in human skin, utterly ruthless to their enemies and protective of their secrets and kin."

"In the time since then there have been twelve branches of the family, though only three are alive to this day. I will not speak of the dead branches, for they are entitled to their rest and to name them would wake them from a well-earned sleep, or so the clan laws say. The first of the three is the remains of our branch, the 'Royal' branch or the branch from which all others were born, they are the ones who have kept true to the legacy of Sasaki Kojirō and fight in a style similar to his. None of his descendants have come close to his level of skill, and the only prodigy we have produced that is anywhere near his level is Nanoha, and she's _nowhere_ near his level when he died to Musashi-sama."

"Out of all the branches, theirs is the one with the most claim to Sasaki's legacy, and so the title of 'Heir of Sasaki Kojirō' belongs solely to them, and with that comes the title of clan head. Due to me not being a Takamachi by blood, I merely hold these titles until Nanoha comes of age, a regent of sorts if you will. I won't go into detail on the other two branches, for they aren't relevant to what you have asked, if you want to know more about them and the rest of the branches we'll speak another time."

After that long-winded explanation, he took a deep breath and exhaled, focusing back on the boy to notice him seemingly enraptured with his explanation… far too enraptured for simple interest, but not yet an obsession. Well, he had a little bit left to say before he moved on to why he wasn't worried for Nanoha, not much but enough that it would hopefully sate the boy. "A last thing I can add before I go off-topic is a circumstance that happened only recently, a 'reunion' of sorts occurred roughly… ten years ago between my old clan, the Takamachi clan and the Mikami clan. I will simply say that the end result left two clans dead, and the third lost over a quarter of its members, it was not a pleasant day."

A quick glance showed that Yuuno-san was slightly reeling away from him and had a look of sadness on his face, so he was interested more on the farther history of the clan rather than the clan itself, a good thing to know. Another breath in and an attempt to sip his tea ended with him noticing his was somehow out of tea… he shouldn't have drunk that much tea in during his explanation already… "Shirō-san? Is something wrong?"

The question registered quickly and he shook his head in response, waiting a single beat before giving a reply to ease the 'worry' the boy had, "Oh, just wondering where all the tea went is all, and a bit of reminiscing about the clans and branches. Nothing you need worry about Yuuno-san." His audience didn't look convinced, but nodded anyway in reply before waiting on him again to continue his explanation, now came his Momoko-chan.

"My wife, Takamachi Momoko, heiress of Sasaki Kojirō and 18th clan head of the Takamachi, was a monster that hid her true nature far too well. A gentle smile in place and eyes that were set into serenity that only changed if you managed to surprise her, she was graceful and beautiful, and Nanoha takes after her physically to a somewhat uncanny degree. She was no prodigy of the clan, but she made up for that with honing her skills to the point she was the match of most adults by the time she was only fourteen. She was not set to be the next clan head, her cousin was set to inherit when her uncle passed, but then the incident occurred and left her as the sole survivor of the 'Royal' Branch and the de-facto clan head."

"She held many scars on her body, much like Nanoha does, though none of them marred her beauty… most she received from her hellish training that she imparted on her children and myself, while the rest were obtained from incident and our first meeting. I can proudly say I got four strikes on her before she kicked me and knocked me out, that's more than any non-Takamachi can claim." A chuckle left his lips involuntarily, that had been… an interesting day in his life, and not one he'd like to repeat _ever_ again.

Shaking his head of the somehow fond memory, he went back to speaking of Momoko-chan and reminiscing about the good memories. "Despite hiding the guise of a monster, she loved me and her children, even with the older two not being hers. She was kind and gentle, always knowing how to soothe one's troubles with a gesture or phrase, yet full of rage should something happen to what little of her family remained. My Momoko-chan, she was quite the angel, a shame really that she never could have met you or seen her daughter grow up, I have a feeling she would have enjoyed speaking with you."

He paused for a moment, closing his eyes and breathing calmly as he reigned his emotions in, it wouldn't do for him to cry in front of an employer, even if it was a boy and they were speaking about his wife. Regaining his composure after a short few moments, he opened his eyes again and continued on to Nanoha. "Takamachi Nanoha… my second daughter and clan head the moment she comes of age…" And at that pause he gave a piercing 'glare' at Yuuno-san, an action that made the boy freeze up and wonder what he'd done wrong, well he'd oblige the boy's curiosity.

"Due to a convoluted tradition developed during the Sengoku Jidai or prior, any Takamachi that is handed their life-long weapon is considered an adult, at the time this was considered to be whenever they reached a degree of skill that their guardians deemed good enough. Now however, a Takamachi gains their weapon whenever they complete their first job, and you so happened to stumble upon my Nanoha and gave her a job." And with that the boy took a few seconds for the words to register, realization ad tiny bit of 'horror' stretched across his face… he hated this clan's traditions and laws, they made sense for the age they were made, but they were far too outdated for today's era.

"Seeing as you understand now, I'll continue on. Nanoha is a prodigy among prodigies, even among Takamachi, she has zero self-preservation instincts and is more akin to the eldest branch of the family than the 'Royals'. She doesn't… understand how to interact with others, because she's more Monster than Human, though her fake smile tends to hide most of that ugly truth. Most that encounter her feel that she's wrong, her family and friends included, though they've become accustomed to her 'wrongness'."

"At the age of five, she started to be taught by her mother in the ways of the branch's ways. Two weeks in, she defeated her mother, disarmed her and held her at swordpoint. After that, she somehow became _worse_ at fighting, though I've come to believe through my own training with her that she's limiting herself, for what reason I don't know nor do I think I'd understand. All I do understand is that should she wish to, she will lose herself and become the Monster, and _nothing_ will be safe from her blood-lust, and _that_ is why I do not worry for her safety."

His Nanoha was a monster, more so than Momoko-chan had been, more so than the branch heads he'd met in the past, even a clan of monsters had a Monster that they 'feared' would be made, a Monster like Sasaki and Miyamoto. There were only a few more things to say, and then he'd be able to reminisce without anyone around to notice his tears and laughter. "My wife made Nanoha promise her that she'd always smile, and the only reason she'd ever break that promise was if she'd lost something so important to her that it broke her… she hasn't broken that promise even in her sleep."

He remained silent for a while after that, taking several breaths before calmly looking at the boy who'd contracted with his daughter. "Well, that's enough for an evening Yuuno-san, I imagine you'll have another busy day tomorrow, so go get your rest." Said boy was somewhat in a daze before he collected himself enough and nodded, rising to his feet slowly and turning to leave through the door… wait, there was still a single thing left that the boy should know of before he left.

"One last thing Yuuno-san." The young boy stopped and sent a look back at him, a bit of curiosity and apprehension flitting on his face, a good set when faced with that statement. "Don't believe much of what Nanoha says when it comes to the past, she tends to lie to herself about certain things and believes those lies as the truth. Excepting her completely breaking mentally, I doubt she'll ever be rid of those lies of hers. I've taken enough of your time, and the time is getting older so off to bed with you, there's a storm brewing for the morning and it'd be a shame if you missed it." Yuuno-san looked unsettled by the information but nodded in response before leaving for his room, maybe he would sleep, maybe he would stew over the information he'd received.

What Yuuno-san did didn't matter to him, he wasn't involved, and he had a favor to call in for his Nanoha, a sword needed to be forged and it would be grand and worthy of the Heiress of Sasaki. … Even if he never wished to make this sword be forged, he'd do it just so his daughter would have a beaming smile.

* * *

A day spent in chains, a day spent under the ministrations of a man wanting to 'heal' her and an Admiral wanting to 'talk' to her, a day spent in blinding white and dull grey. A single day spent waiting until she was left alone by the doctor, and the 'guard' left her for somewhere else.

Several of the chains rattled as she shifted slightly, pulling the links as far as they would go before letting them relax again. She could work with the distance, she just needed enough mana and a little time, and then she'd be free to run… hopefully. She didn't really know how strong these chains were, not when she only barely strained against them to put up a mask of passivity and keep them less guarded around her.

It was almost time to follow the whispering, almost time to find her sword and Razing Heart and return to Scrya-san and Otou-sama.

Finally, she felt she had spent long enough waiting in emerald chains, and so she began. Mana poured into her right arm, her 'strength' and 'endurance' spells flaring to life in just that arm before she jerked it up and against the chain. The whispers sounded again, a bit clearer, but still not able to be understood… it was a single voice, with a slight echo and it sounded feminine, it sounded nice and soothing, like Okaa-sama. Her arm hit the chain, and without even a single struggle, 'snapped' under the force she put on it… she expected that the chain would be harder to break than that, well out of the two, it was better to overestimate than it was to underestimate.

While that thought processed, her body kept moving on its own, another pouring of mana into her left arm resulting in a similar outcome before both turned the chains keeping her upper body bound to the table, her focus returning as she tore those chains away and sat up. A light stretch worked out the accumulated kinks in her body, before she turned her attention to the last four chains keeping her legs bound, they lasted only a few seconds all together.

Whispering, gentle, serene whispering echoed in her head as she moved off to the side of the table, it sounded like a melody, a melody that only she and the whisperer were privy to. Her mana moved to encompass and embrace all of her bones and muscles, a bracing made for her shattered leg as well before she let her feet touch the ground and hold her again, immediately stumbling a step before catching herself on the bed. Her legs were numb… she should've expected that.

Half a minute was spent waiting for her legs to gain feeling again, and in that she turned to look at the door as best as she could… it had a keypad… which probably meant that the important places she needed to get to were behind the same kind of security measures. Well, stealth certainly wasn't an option today it seemed… time for tentative 'Plan B' then, this would either go horribly wrong, or she'd just make it.

The half-minute was up, she braced herself for impact and charged the door with her 'speed' spell drifting into place alongside her other augments. With a crash, she smashed into the door and dented it with a low groan from the impact, a second charge making a rent in the metal that let her see a bit of whatever lied outside, a third and final charge forcing her through the door and into the dim, near-black hallway lit in red. Ignoring the ache in her body from the repeated bashing, as well as the several cuts dotting her body from the ruptured door, she picked herself up and took off down the left hallway, following the whispering and trusting it would lead her to her blade and Device.

She ran, and ran, turned left, kept running forward, listened to the whispers, kept straight, and turned right. The whispering was growing louder and louder as she kept moving, but never reached above what it was or could be made out. But that was alright, because it was gentle and sounded like Okaa-sama and nothing bad could have Okaa-sama's voice.

One last turn and the whispering was set in front of her, down a long, near-barren hallway lined with a few doors and at the end was yet another door, one with a light and what looked like a sign set outside it. She paid no attention to those little objects, and focused instead on the door as she sprinted towards it, bracing herself and leveling her shoulder for the impact while also flooding her body with mana. Several seconds passed and she neared the door, two steps before she'd make contact with it found her leaping shoulder-first into the door, a second later a crash sounded as she barged into the door and tore off a single side of it.

She landed terribly but managed to pick herself up quickly, meeting a man in clothing similar to the 'Doctor's' cowering in shock a bit farther away in the room and dismissing him as unimportant. She noted the tables filled with equipment, dismissed them just as rapidly as she heard the whisperings pull her gaze away from them and to a table far at the back of the rather large room. There atop it, as she made her way through the plethora of equipment and tables was her treasures and her Device, seemingly untouched, though surrounded by instruments of research.

With haste, she picked up her scabbard and blade, placing the latter back into its home before thinking better and leaving a small bit of metal to show, then picking up her device and listening as the whispering faded away… So close, so very close to understanding it, so close to hearing Okaa-sama's voice again…

Without any warning an alarm went off, startling and sending her darting towards the door and outside, Razing Heart embedded into her blade in a single motion as pink engulfed her and put her in the Barrier Jacket she made. Without any guidance, she had no idea where she was supposed to be going… well she probably should have thought that through first, too late now.

Once more she ran, amidst the blaring red lights and alarm ringing its klaxon she sprinted down the halls in a random direction, vaguely hearing something shouting above the siren that couldn't be understood. Turning the corner, she saw what was she thought the source was, a pair of officers… or combatants, she didn't know the difference between the two, only that they were holding staff-like weapons and stopped the moment they saw her… a stupid mistake on their parts.

A platform was made, eagerly greeting her step with an explosion that sent her hurtling forward, her sword drawn with its sheathe and clicking as she skidded along the metal floor straight at the closest of the two. Without slowing she barreled into the woman of the two, knocking her legs out from under her before immediately pivoting as fast as possible to point herself at the man, a platform manifesting for her with a thought and sending her up to crash into him and lift them both off the ground into the air. Another platform was made against the man and detonated the mana within, sending herself careening downwards back at the woman, while the man continued upwards into the ceiling with a hollow 'bang' before bouncing and beginning to fall back down.

Another bang echoed through hallway as she landed on the woman, driving her into the metal floor before she picked herself up and continued running forward to find a way out. Another group met her at the end of the hallway, and they too paused the moment they caught sight of her… were people really that dumb to stop in surprise? Regardless, she proceeded to handle them with the same ease she'd handled the other two.

The first of the four was rammed into the wall opposite of her, followed by a fist to the woman's head which knocked her out, immediately pivoting around and lashing out with her sheathed blade at the second one… and her sword crushed the stave without any effort at all… apparently these devices were very brittle. Just another thing they really needed to address… this was stupid how much of difference between them and the Enforcer there was. A kick followed her breaking of the weapon, catching her opponent off-guard and sprawling them out on the ground, the third also caught unaware as she let her weapon fly directly at his face.

By the time the last had finally collected herself enough to fight, she was already in front of her driving an elbow into her gut, backing off a step as the woman doubled over, then without any remorse drove her knee into their face. An exchange that lasted barely ten seconds… were people really this weak with magic normally? Despite that wondering her body went and collected her weapon quickly before running off in another direction… eventually she'd find the way out… hopefully.

She only met a single other person in the hallways after… some amount of time, a man without a stave and dressed differently than the rest of the people she'd seen so far today, a blue suit-like clothing instead of the beige-brown uniform the people with staves wore. Barely four seconds passed and the man was down, tripped and flung into the wall after she grabbed his leg and turned, and she kept running down the hallway… it was getting annoying not knowing where to go.

Eventually after _many_ turns and straight hallways, alongside an occasional whispering that soothed her annoyance, she encountered a door in the dim light… and proceeded to barge through it with another crash. The first thing she was greeted to was something she didn't expect to ever hear… Lindy was a strange woman… "Oh my… I didn't expect you to just break out a day after waking up. But did you have to break the door off its frame?" … Yes, yes she did, since that was the only way she'd be able to get through the door in the first place.

Regardless she looked up and to the left at the Admiral, who'd apparently rose from a seat atop a raised platform and was looking at her with a smile, and gave a light nod in reply… why was the woman taking this in stride so well… and where was her teacup? And then the woman decided to speak again as she looked around and noticed all of the glass and consoles littering the room, and beyond the glass… some mass of color that hurt to look at, a bridge of some kind? "Do you have any idea how much that door costs?" … Why was that a question? She gave a shrug in reply, even if she could have a rough estimate, the Bureau probably didn't use yen and she didn't think there was a conversion rate for their currency…

"Neither do I." And with that she heard a series of thumps as something collapsed in response to those words… and she honestly would have joined them if she wasn't in this situation… the Admiral deserved something better than the word eccentric to describe her. Now she looked a bit annoyed for some reason as she turned to look behind her on the opposite side of the platform… there were stairs that led up to the platform… "Well… would any of you like to 'fess up and tell me where you've hidden Bob this time?"

… Lindy didn't have her device… her own crew had hid it from her… for some reason that felt justified just from the titles it had given and the fact that it was a teacup, but even still... that was stupid…

Choosing to just ignore that entire thought process, difficult as it was, she calmly walked up the stairs as Lindy turned back to regard her after some noise rustled as someone or something rushed off to somewhere. A quick glance to the side showed her some strange alcove with several lights lining it, a whisper flitting through her thoughts at the sight which made her 'curious' about the alcove. She turned her head back to the Admiral, casually bringing her right hand up to grip her sheathe and pull it off with a quiet ring, though with the sudden silence it made the sound echoed loudly through the room.

Mana was prodded into the metal with a nudge as she took a step backwards, motes gliding off the metal to surround and comfort her as another step into the alcove was made, the Admiral raising an eye at whatever it was she was doing, but saying nothing. … Whatever this was, it was important, it wouldn't be on the bridge if it wasn't… and everything she'd seen of their technology, meager as that amount was, required mana to use, what it did… well there was no harm in trying since she understood nothing of where she was.

Imagine it working, light filling the chamber and doing something to send her back to her city, pour mana out, fill the chamber with mana to make the light, sparse but enough to cover her from view, and then… launch the motes and a slash at the machine when she was in transit to make it unusable after she was done. And with that, her mana flared and she stumbled lightly as the ground rocked gently in response while her vision swam in pink, then she felt herself… dissolve and disappear right after she sent the slash at one of the walls.

She still got to hear Lindy say something that she found a bit of amusement in before she vanished from wherever she was, "This is why you don't steal the Admiral's device _until_ we're in transit. Now…"

She saw again shortly after, and was immediately blinded by looking into the sun… was it rising or setting now? No, that didn't matter currently, a blink and she opened an eye again and saw complete whiteness everywhere… and noted that she felt like she was falling… Two seconds later she was past the white, and registered them as clouds… wait…

And with that observation she immediately twisted in the air and looked down… why was everything flooded and there were two collapsed skyscrapers, and why were there explosions sounding below her? A moment later she berated herself and started making platforms to try and slow her done, or at the very least ensure she didn't hit the building directly below her. The first one manifested directly above her... the second, third and fourth shattered without slowing her down a bit, and the fifth through twentieth barely slowed her, though thankfully diverted her enough that she wouldn't hit the skyscraper directly in the center… the side though…

A moment later after realizing that with multiple other platforms made in her hopeful trajectory, she crashed through the side of the building, glass shattered, concrete smashed and steel bent in her wake before she bounced off into the ocean below with a plume of water… On one hand she was happy that the building slowed her down, on the other… she was now in a lot of pain, her body ached, and she was seeing dou- no tr-… what was the word for five again?

Anyway, before she drowned due to a lapse in attention, she made a platform… that was above not below like she needed, and proceeded to detonate it and send her back to the surface… no she was right the first time. Roughly a dozen seconds later, and several failures of platforms, she managed to surface and take a breath, gasping briefly before pulling herself onto a platform and looking around the flood city… a barrier was likely. After a few moments searching and listening to rather loud whispering and explosions, she finally managed to spot one of the explosions happening, and the darting figures making them.

Fate and the Enforcer were coming her way… best give them a proper greeting, even if she should be writhing in agony from broken bones and torn muscles from that landing… nothing mana bracing wouldn't fix for the moment, even if it would only be temporary. The platform eagerly awaited her command, she reigned in its desire though and waited patiently, making it siblings to wait with them as she tensed for the pain and rapid movement to follow and the she was off. A detonation up from the ocean brought her into the sky again, her body turning the meet the next before it too sent her flying towards the next, and then again for a third time she flew directly into their midst.

They weren't prepared for a third person to join in on their battle, that was evident by the fact that startled in response to her sudden appearance, the Enforcer barely managing to move enough that she lightly grazed his shoulder, while she merely flew over Fate who promptly ducked the moment she appeared. She landed against a platform hard, cracking the 'surface' before letting it drop and place her on another that wasn't going to let her slip off towards the water below, spinning around to take in the looks of surprise that swiftly turned into seriousness, her smile twitching once in response before she gave them a wave, and promptly noticed she still had her sheathe in her hand.

"Good morning~" And with that both were confused again as she put her sheathe back in its proper place, before she kickstarted the battle again with two statements, "No reason for a truce today, the winner takes the rest's Jewels. _I don't plan to lose._ "

* * *

 _AN: For a clarification on_ why _Bob was taken from Lindy, there are two reasons.  
1\. Bob likes to 'discipline' the crewmembers that screw up in some manner, which can range from him giving them terrible tea, to 'headpats', to subjecting them to an 'Excalibur' story, normally Lindy will let him run amok as it tends to promote more effectiveness in her crew, though when things get serious she'll put a stop to his antics. In the current case, the seriousness was mostly past seeing as they only had one main combatant left to deal with, so the crew decided to make sure  
2\. Lindy gets drunk on tea… and Bob makes his own tea for Lindy and almost never runs out of supplies… Lindy also tends to be unproductive when she's tea-drunk in addition to being a 'bad' drunk._

 _And just so that you all are aware of Nanoha's condition at the time of this fight, roughly 10% of her is perfectly healthy, roughly 65% of her is minor injuries, and the remaining roughly 25% is major wounds. Also after her stunt with the teleporter, her mana reserves are at 37%. 'Good luck to Nanoha' would be appropriate to say, no?_


	8. Conception VIII

_AN: In response to criticism that I've gone over several times since I received them, and only now feel up to talking about here, I'll be rewriting Conception I, II, II and IV to bring them in line with the other four chapters once I finish the arc._

 _With that said, there won't be too much changed aside from hopefully making it a better read, mostly by removing the 'wall of text' element that's found there and the 'telling not showing' I tend to find myself doing, and because of this, the rewrite shouldn't take that long. The only major things that should be happening is the 'telling not showing', which'll mean more scenes and conversations getting added, and Nanoha's beginning incantation being changed to something far more fitting than the other._

 _Hopefully this rewrite will only take at most a week or two, and I can move on._

 _Oh, I also won't put in translations for any other languages I use, at least for this first arc… though I'm liable to continue this throughout the fic. If you want translations, either ask me directly or translate yourself. For one, the translations would make the word count higher than what it should be, even if that's just a hundred or so words, and for two, it'd make the paragraphs even more 'wall of text' than I'm comfortable with._

 _And one last thing, a… 'secret' of sorts for those of you who have read everything else up to this point and don't re-read prior chapters, Conception V has an addition to it, just a few words but it changes things a lot._

 _Now then, enjoy, and apologizes on the rather large AN._

 _Amount of hugs needed: 5,896_

 _Amount of hugs found: 2,314_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

No time was wasted refuting those words, immediately starting when the Enforcer created a set of four blades above him and sent them at her, a spell she quickly dodged with a detonation upwards into another platform. Her body skidded against the sheet of mana before she sent herself flying at Fate, said girl having made the Enforcer briefly back off under a hail of bolts, before turning to meet her charge with a quick change of her device.

Sparks flew as both weapons bit into each other, serene smile opposing a stoic line before they both broke apart in the wake of a return volley from the boy, and then came the homing shots repeatedly chasing after them. An explosion sent her hurtling along the water away from the persistent bolts, the water parting slightly in her wake until a second platform changed her direction to send her behind a skyscraper. The bolts thankfully turned too sharply and plowed into the skyscraper rather than curve along the path she took, which left her alone for the mome-

Immediately she ducked and avoided the blade sent flying towards her courtesy of the Enforcer, followed by then detonating herself into the sky to avoid Fate's volley of bolts… She was in the middle of both of them… that needed to be fixed quickly. She let her body orient itself to be near horizontal, her feet brushing against condensed mana before it exploded her directly into the skyscraper, shattering glass and busting concrete as she slid inside.

They wouldn't follow her inside, doing so would put them in close-quarters with her and no room to maneuver, something they both were wary off given her 'prowess' in swordsmanship. This wasn't like any of the other battles before now, she didn't have a partner that would maneuver the opponent towards her, or at the least, pressure them enough that they were focused elsewhere than on her, nor was she against a single opponent where she could at least focus on a single target. No, this time she had to deal with two enemies, both of whom she couldn't catch without aid or trickery, and who would automatically try to flee from her if given the chance.

She heard explosions outside, steadily growing further from the building as time passed, so she quickly ran through the debris cast in her wake… was there really this many office buildings in this part of the city… and jumped back into the water-filled world outside. She made a platform directly below the opening and ran in the direction of the explosions, darting around three skyscrapers until she was almost at the sounds… and then ran directly into the Enforcer…

Not wasting the moment, she exploded the platform she'd be using and barreled into the boy, a barely heard gasp sounding out before she rammed the two of them into another skyscraper. Two seconds after they entered she threw the older boy into a wall, dazing him slightly before immediately sending a wave of mana at him. He hadn't gotten out of the daze by the time the spell hit, knocking him back into the wall moments before she rammed into him again, taking both through the wall and into second room.

This time she didn't throw him into the wall, choosing instead to deliver a knee to his gut before punching him into a table… this was strangely satisfying for some reason, a Monster beating up a 'Hero'. Her tiny thought cost her momentum, the Enforcer managing to finally recover and level his stave at her just as she charged again, a shield forming at the tip that she hit twice with her sword before the boy dodged out of the way, several blades hanging around him before they fired.

No room to dodge… just go through then. And so, she did, darting around the first and second blades before the third tore into her stomach, the fourth smashed away with her free hand while the fifth joined its 'brother' in her stomach. She ignored the rapidly dulling pain and kept going, noting the slight surprise that flickered across the boy's face before it was gone and their weapons clashed… he wasn't that good in comparison to Fate or her… Two strikes broke through his guard and sent his weapon careening away, though still clasped in his hand, the third drawing blood from his right shoulder, almost at his neck, the fourth and fifth carving into his chest, while the sixth screeched out against the returned stave. And then she kneed him the gut and sent him out of the room through another desk with a punch to the face.

Finally, she took notice of her injuries and did the responsible thing in this situation, she shattered the blades and tore the fading pieces out before walking after him. She heard glass shatter just as she left the room, immediately stopping her walk for several seconds before turning back the way she had come in. it'd be stupid to just go after the boy into the sky, especially from the exact same exit he'd made, he'd be waiting for her to appear and shoot her after the short beating she had subjected him to… unless Fate had been waiting for one of them to appe-

A thunderous explosion ripped apart her thoughts and sent debris flying in the room she was about to enter, though thankfully it did nothing but startle slightly and force some dust on her. Even still she immediately bolted through the wreckage made in the wake of whatever had made that explosion, jumping through the glass… directly into the Enforcer again… Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence…

The shattering of what little glass remained gave the boy enough time to get out of her way, though he wasn't prepared for her to send a wave at him, the spell slamming into him lightly and disrupting his flight… and then came a bombardment spell from Fate interrupting her. Barreling through the air with a numbness settling on her body in the wake of the spell was annoying, smashing into a building roughly a hundred meters away from the caster of said spell was far more annoying.

Prying herself from the wreckage caught in her wake, she walked back to the window and looked out into the distance towards her foes. Her idea had worked for a moment, it had only been beaten by circumstance, so she'd stick with it for now… though she either had to wait here for them to arrive for an ambush or charge out at them…

Decisions… decisions…

She watched and waited, finally deciding on her course and preparing herself… and then she saw a skyscraper disappear in a flash of yellow that continued until it speared the clouds… Fate had been holding back it seemed… far too kind or not wanting to kill. Whichever it was didn't matter, only that she was holding back did, still she leapt out of the building without giving much thought to that piece of information and ran back to the battle, waiting wouldn't have been productive and would have wasted time.

After a rough half-minute of running she reached the ruins from Fate's attack, immediately darting to her left when she heard the first explosion and continuing through the small gap between two skyscrapers. Halfway through she saw bolts of mana dart across the opening, both blue and yellow… she didn't think and just detonated the platform to send her directly into the hail of mana… directly in front of Fate. She didn't think again, and just let her body act on its own at this moment, which led to her leg catching the surprised girl a bit off-guard before Fate was sent into another skyscraper…

Why did they have so many skyscrapers here? This wasn't a major city like Tokyo, Osaka or Yokohama… well… she could ponder that later, when she wasn't the target of a rain of bolts that did nothing but make her body ache. Another platform caught her before she turned to face the Enforcer, the boy immediately moving out of the way while stopping the ineffective rain… that didn't get him out of her way quick enough.

A shield was made in response to her closing, she broke it as easily as all the rest that she'd broken, motes of pink lifting from her blade as her blade sung through the air and bit skin thrice. The Enforcer lashed out with his stave in response to the cuts on his leg and chest, the first one easily ducked under and repaid in kind with a light cut across his chest, the second one managed to daze her when it smashed into her head… She was sent reeling with a heavy headache that hit caused… and then her body locked up for some reason allowing the boy back off and send her into the ocean with a barrage of his homing shots.

Another platform greeted her at the water's surface, the headache receding with a shake of her head before she forced mana through her body, hollowing her bones in order to get out of the way of the rest of the swarm. She took a few hits before noticing that the motes she'd made weren't around the Enforcer anymore… and then Fate smashed through a window a bit higher than where she'd sent her… and then she started generating orbs of mana around her… that was a lot of bolts…

And then with a single muttered word, said so low she couldn't hear anything, everything was fired… and the sky became colored in sunlight. Immediately both her and the Enforcer tried to get out of the way… they didn't expect the sheer scale that spell was capable of… or was it spells?... no, not the time to wonder. Each of the bolts that hit made her body ache, more than the usual shooting spells shot at her anyway… and there were plenty that hit… Unlike the rest of the spells that had been fired so far, except for bombardment spells… but those were in a class of their own, the bolts tore through the buildings separating them and their targets… though whether that was them being more powerful or through sheer number she had no idea.

The storm, for calling it any less would be insulting the spell, lasted for a total of around a minute and a half… and in its wake, it left only falling buildings, churning water, and battered foes… those bolts hurt… Fate 'stood' watching over the devastation caused in her wake with a stoic face, she was justified that in this case… but still… Her katana clanged against the concrete she was under, scraping sparks along it as she calmly walked out from under skyscraper that had smashed into yet another skyscraper… she was somewhat grateful now for the sheer amount they had.

The Enforcer appeared shortly after Fate's attention was drawn to her, and in her lapse of attention to an opponent that by all rights, _shouldn't_ have survived that amount of bombardment, the boy set her up to deliver a blow… something she hadn't expected to happen. Rings of blue bound Fate's wrists and ankles, and though they held for only a few seconds before they broke, that was all she needed.

A detonation brought her directly into Fate, the rings shattering a moment before she delivered a knee to Fate's stomach, a look of pain crossing the other girl's face before she sent her down towards the ocean with a single punch. Fate didn't enter the water, managing to stop herself before she would have hit the water, twisting back to look at her and then the Enforcer with a hint of pain peeking through her cold face.

She took a moment to look over the battlefield in the wake of everything happening in the short span of a few minutes… it looked like something you'd see from an apocalypse; every building was either broken or turned into rubble and swallowed by the ocean… or a mixture of the two… The only buildings standing 'pristine' were those outside of their immediate area, roughly back to where she'd been sent by Fate's bombardment spell… the water also appeared to be charged with electricity…

With how the field seemed to be completely changed to go against her prior idea… she was stuck fighting two ranged mages, in the middle of an ocean with next to no cover beyond two still standing skyscrapers and a mound of rubble breaking the ocean's surface … well this was going to be a terrible time… She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again, a glance given to the Enforcer lightly breathing as he descended slightly to be just above her, before she glanced over to look in Fate's direction and watched as she rose quickly from the ocean.

All three stood… or floated in their case, in silence, Fate changing her Device to its scythe form while Chrono seemingly listened to someone… were devices also able to communicate with other devices? Well that was… interesting to know, but otherwise not really needed right now. Her own preparations in this moment of silence… she didn't have any, the only thing that could count was… 'something' bubbling up in her that made her giddy for some reason and kept trying to twist her smile into something more feral…

… She didn't understand why… sure she enjoyed fighting, losing herself in the dancing that erupted in the wake of a duel or the excitement that rose from fights like these… but aside from the last time, when she'd assumed she would die, a feral smile never showed itself… Was she instinctively seeking a death from a person her better? Hmm… that wouldn't do… not before she managed to finish this job at least… yet it still made her giddy… so she let that strange smile make itself on her face.

"… So… this is what it feels like… to meet a Hero…" She felt the need to giggle softly to herself… she didn't understand why… but that was fine, her blood was singing and it felt _right_ , like this was the most natural thing in the world… except the giggling, that she forced down and refused to let out. "… A monster… a monster is destined to fight Hero…" Another set of giggling racked her, and both of her opponents were unsettled even more than before… they wouldn't ever understand… not when she didn't either… "… I wonder… are either of you _my_ Hero?"

She didn't give them any time to comprehend whatever gibberish she felt the need to say, tilting the platform towards them before letting it send her flying, another greeting her just as the two registered and reacted to her movement. She hit the surface of mana with a jolt, this idea of hers was terrible… even compared to the rest, she just hoped whatever it was that made her plans work, helped her this one time above all else… She ignored the giddiness she felt with that thought… it would just get in the way.

Two hails of mana came for her, she deigned to avoid everything and send herself hurtling upwards up to the clouds just as she'd done by accident in her training… this was a stupid idea… She felt rain falling on her… the storm was crying for some reason, and then she saw a few bolts lance past her, and something hit her left leg… she barely felt anything… She passed into the clouds, and continued upwards… this would hurt, both herself and whoever she hit… if she did hit at all.

One last platform greeted her as she left the clouds and saw the sky and sun again… now or never then. With only a light flare of mana running through her body to reinforce it from what was undoubtedly going to hurt, she made the platform explode and send her downwards back to the earth below. Clouds passed by in her wake as she carved through them, an idle though passed through her head as she exited the near-black screen… did she leave a hole through the clouds in her wake?

… It certainly took a lot longer to rise than it did to fall… both her hands gripped her blade's hilt and held it back as she rapidly descended, both Fate and the Enforcer keep firing, though they both immediately tried to dodge out of the way once the realized her intention… they were too late. Gravity brought most of the momentum, and with it she shattered through the shield meant to hold her back and continued as if it wasn't even there… sparks flew as a stave was brought up, and both her and Fate hurtled down into the ocean.

They hit the surface with a crash and a plume of water, and both were in the ocean, thankfully with the electricity faded. Quickly they sank into the murky blue, bubbles of air drifting upwards in their wake before she separated them with a light push off Fate. … The water made it hard to move around… but she still did… decent given the circumstances, three light cuts across Fate's chest along with one nearly marring her face and a stab into her right leg. In return she was hit with a blow to the chest, something that nearly took her breath away, and one to her broken leg… why didn't it hurt anymore?

Both of them were forced upwards though when it became hard to breathe, even still she continued fighting, sending waves of mana at Fate, something readily blocked with a shield while Fate refused to return fire… was she afraid of being hurt by her own spells? She shook that question away a moment before she broke the surface, a platform appearing under her as she let out the last of her breath into the water, and with a single thought she was in the sky again… and immediately pelted with homing spell after homing spell courtesy of the Enforcer.

Fate broke the surface shortly after, taking a passing moment to regain her bearings as she herself went after the Enforcer through the hail of annoying bolts. The boy flew out of her reach twice before she reached him, body numb from the spells breaking against her, and she brought her annoyance to bear, sword slamming into his stave with high screech before she punched him in the chest. A knee hit his chest as well, a stab sank into his left forearm, his stave swung into her leg… she felt nothing, and continued with another punch to his chest that sent him away from her.

She didn't even get to turn around before she was hit by Fate in the back, pain blossoming across her back as whatever she did seared her flesh beneath her clothing… So, this was what it felt like to fight a losing battle, it felt _amazing_ … her body was trying to giggle again, she forced it down again. … She was almost certain that both of her opponents, and anyone watching where completely and utterly unnerved, if not frightened of her… that didn't bother her… "Come on… I'm not dead yet…" Her voice was wrong, too much… 'something' mixed into it that shouldn't be there.

With a bit of effort, she managed to force the urge to giggle to subside… and even though her body ached she took a step towards the Enforcer, and immediately made the platform she stood on explode and send her flying backwards at Fate. … Her opponent expected that move, and a shield sprung up in her way… she did an unusual thing and went around it. A detonation to the side of the shield into another platform, that construct exploding to send her into a third platform behind Fate, and then a final explosion letting her to barrel into Fate, who'd been turning after the first one.

The shield shattered and then came a rain of droplets as the sky divulged its contents, followed by another rain of homing bolts a few scant moments later… the Enforcer loved to shoot those didn't he… She ignored the hail coming after them, it was nothing more than an annoyance really… nothing he threw at her hurt besides the mana swords… and he'd stopped using them after a while.

Her sword lashed out and elicited a tiny cut from Fate, a move that Fate rewarded her with a stab through her chest courtesy of her scythe… why didn't it hurt as much as before? Her body didn't pause with her thoughts, her 'good' leg kicking Fate in the side before she sent her downwards with another punch.

Then she turned back to Enforcer, flinching twice in response to two of the homing bolts slamming into her face before deciding to do a stupid thing and running through the rather small volley of spells… technically everything was small in comparison to whatever Fate had done a minute earlier. The moment she started running at him he changed from firing the homing shots... to firing the less effective regular spell… He didn't appear remotely concerned with her charge or the fact that she wasn't slowing down, calmly making a shield a few steps before she would reach him.

She crashed against his shield, shattering it with a single punch and swinging her blade down at him… only to stop in her tracks as something, likely those rings form earlier, locked her movements… and then a woman's voice came from the boy's stave, leveled directly at her just as she broke the first ring. _"Safety restriction for Blaze Cannon disengaged Boss."_ … This was going to hurt wasn't it… and then with a sound akin to a roar, the bombardment spell was released and she was sent tumbling back through the air in pain.

Her vision swam in blue, body going numb yet again as mana passed over her and forced her back into something hard, and then _pain_ exploded through her chest and her attention dropped as the light dispersed. She saw the Enforcer, his calm and cold face, morphing to have something like… 'horror' added to it, she shifted her gaze to Fate, and saw the same exact 'emotion' add itself to her… opponents were only supposed to feel horror when something showed up that was far beyond them. Then she looked down and finally noticed what was causing her intense pain… there was a rebar, slick with blood, impaled through her chest and reaching out for about twenty centimeters… that was a problem…

A cough full of blood racked her throat, while the same liquid slowly trickled from the grievous wound… immediately after it subsided she forced her body to work, her fist slamming into the metal and making it ring. Again, and again, and again she punched the metal, forcing mana into her limb to reinforce and strengthen it… she succeeded though her skin ruptured in response to so much mana forced into a single limb… it was worth it to be able to continue fighting.

The bar bent after six hits… with that result she forced more mana into the limb, and turned off her 'speed' augment, slamming her fist into the rebar again. It bent with the second hit, and the third, and each one after that until it snapped off on the fourteenth strike. Her arm and hand were a mangled ruin… blood leaked from the many rivulets formed from her mana ruptures, while the skin had broken in response to beating metal… she'd need to fix that another time…

Everything was becoming fuzzy… but she still saw that neither of her opponents had moved from their spots… she couldn't see their faces, but she'd imagine that their faces were the same… Why was it hard to move her body?

With slowly fading strength, she placed her blade into her mouth and gripped the rebar behind her with both hands… and pushed herself along the metal and felt pain freshly blossom from the wound until she slipped off it and back into the air. A platform was set to greet her fall… but it shattered the moment she touched it and failed to even slow her down… and there weren't any others coming to her aid… she couldn't feel her augments anymore…

With the last of her strength she brought her un-mangled arm up and took her sword back to its rightful place… Then her eyes closed and she fell into the water and sank, her wounds stung from the water brushing past them… and she felt water in her throat… Her eyes opened and everything was _covered in slowly thinning fog… and beside her… was Okaa-sama… she felt the need to say something… and the first word came without any thought._

" _Okaa-sama." She was walking with Okaa-sama along the streets… they got a few looks for their apparel, their kimono and yukatas rather than casual wear… but were otherwise unbothered. Okaa-sama looked down at her with her gentle smile… tilting her head to the side in question… "Can we go to the park for a while?" Okaa-sama's smile didn't dim as she thought about her answer… giving a light hum as she mulled it over before turning back and looking her in the eye._

" _Why do you want to go there, my little monster?"_

 _That was a simple thing to answer… "I want to play in the trees and pick some flowers for Onee-sama." … Okaa-sama's mouth twitched slightly in response to that… but she continued walking hand-in-hand with her, taking a turn that would lead them to their preferred park… a calm place full of flowers in spring with a sakura tree and some other kinds to play amidst…_

" _So long as you don't wander off again, we can spend an hour there. I'd rather not have to find you under a waterfall again." She gave a delighted nod of her head… though she didn't make a single noise in response… that'd have been a waste of breath. It only took them a few minutes in the memory to get there… but for some reason it seemed to 'shift' and have her and Okaa-sama just appear at the park… the shion, higanbana, haibīsukasu, and bara were in bloom._

 _Okaa-sama went off to the side and watched as she started to pick flowers for Onee-sama… Onee-sama liked the bara and haibīsukasu most, and she didn't like the higanbana at all… and shion was Onii-sama's favorite… she'd get Onii-sama something as well… Then the world shifted like fog again and she found herself settled against Okaa-sama with her picked flowers in hand… Okaa-sama was brushing her hair and saying something… she couldn't hear Okaa-sama anymore…_

… _Still she felt hands slip through the strands of her hair… flitting quietly to comb it softly… she could only see the sakura tree, flowers, grass and Okaa-sama's, somehow blurry body… Okaa-sama was humming a song, and it was overlaid with an echo of a voice similar to hers… she was tired. "Okaa-sama… I'm tired…" She heard something akin to a giggle and tinkling laugh mixed together and muffled, then something she couldn't hear… "Can I go to sleep… Okaa-sama?" … She received nothing in response…_

… _The world was layered with fog… drifting closer and closer towards her lying form… and Okaa-sama was gone, swallowed by the fog… everything was turning gradually darker and darker… so she tried to_ wake from memory… She failed to see anything but murky blue fading to black…

She heard something through the fading memory… or was it her imagination? Whatever it was… she heard a voice… it was gentle and sounded like Okaa-sama… the voice _made her sleepy…_

" _Update komplett. Dauer sechs Wochen, zwei Tage, sieben Stunden._ _Benutzer tödlich verwundet, initiiert Protokoll sieben._ " [Update complete. Duration six weeks, two days, seven hours. User mortally wounded, initiating protocol seven.]

 _And with that her eyes closed… and she lost herself in soothing darkness._

* * *

 _Her eyes opened slowly and she saw… a void of black above, broken only by little red lines running through the sky in strange, intricate patterns… and then she was laid against something solid, yet was wet and wasn't drowning. She heard the voice again… Okaa-sama's voice, yet more… 'rough'… though still gentle and beautiful… "_ Bist du mein neuester Benutzer, junges Mädchen? _" [Are you my newest user, young girl?] She didn't understand, but she heard it… and finally after several weeks of just whispering… she finally heard those words… and she lifted her head and looked in the voice's direction… and saw an equally beautiful woman…_

 _Long hair grey as ash framed a pale face… she had the same dress as the girl in her dream… and there was the contraption on her left arm, it looked like a shield, but there was a handle at its point… why was everything so hard to focus on? "_ Språk, Belkansk, dialekt førtisyv _" [Language, Belkan, dialect forty-seven.] … Still she couldn't understand the woman, though she finally could see her… and she saw the 'water' she was in… pink and clear… "_ Language, Mid-Childan, dialect 26. _" ... She understood her… finally…_

" _I hear you… and see you…" Her voice sounded wrong… too weak-sounding to be hers… even still the woman heard her, and looked down at her with a blank face… her eyes were unnatural and beautiful… and they conveyed nothing when they roamed over her…_

"Forty-nine broken bones, seven bones shattered to dust, remaining two-hundred sixteen cracked and near breaking. _"_ _… That felt right… why would she know that though… and where was here? "_ Major concussion, punctured lung, currently drowning. Prediction, five minutes to live, death by drowning. _" Oh… that's right she'd been fighting… the girl and boy… and then she'd been hit into the rebar… the woman kept talking… it was hard to listen… "_ Are you my newest wielder, young girl? _"_

" _Razing Heart?"_

 _The woman didn't react much to that name… only her mouth turning downwards showed that she even registered hearing her… "_ That is not my name young girl." _Oh… that was disappointing… then what was her name? … And why was she here then? "_ It has been long since I was last woken. It is no surprise that the world has forgotten the Seraphs' Device of war. _" … What did that mean?_

"I ask again, are you my newest wielder, young girl? Time is short for you, and your voice has woken me from my waiting for the Queen's line. _" She wielded Razing Heart and Okaa-sama's blade… the woman striding silently through the 'water' towards her… she'd said she wasn't named Razing Heart… she'd never said she wasn't the jewel she used… which meant she was 'Razing Heart'… She nodded her head as best as she could… and the frown that had marred the woman's face vanished as she knelt down in the 'water' beside her… ah… she was brushing her head like Okaa-sama did in the past… "_ I acknowledge you as my wielder… but you are not worthy to know my name yet. _"_

 _That was fine… she didn't need her real name yet… that could wait… what she needed was to get better… and keep fighting until her last breath… "I need to… keep going…" A hand, soft and gentle passed along her face… and she felt the need to stop and listen… she was not wrong to…_

"Man dies in the Seraph's wake. The Seraphs of past forsook their kind, and chose to fight until death claimed them. They were above Man, and Man strived to reach them. I was their weapon, and I am now yours. _" … A Seraph… a Seraph was an angel… she didn't understand the difference between them and other angels… but that didn't matter… "_ Are you willing to forsake your humanity, young girl, and become a Seraph to continue fighting and living? _" That answer… was so very easy to say… but she settled with a simple nod._

 _She looked up into those orbs of pure black with a simple ring of red within it… and she saw a glint of satisfaction within it… she'd made her happy… that was a nice thought… And then the woman spoke once more, and firmly grasped her and lifted her to stand again, and everything was suddenly..._ right _again. "_ Then let us fly, and leave naught but ash in our wake, my Seraph of Blades. _" She seemed to pause for a moment, and her mouth twisted from the smile back to a thin line, and then she heard the last line_ before she was underwater again, still she felt amusement run through her at it.

" _You will learn the tongue of kings when this is over. I refuse to speak in this tongue for longer than necessary._ "

She felt strange… like her augments were changing her body instead of just enhancing her bones and muscles, while her mana felt different, mixing together with something else and changing her… She felt pain for a brief moment as her body was… 'unmade and remade', followed by feeling something manifest from her back… and she could feel it like any bit of her skin.

She felt _wrong_ , yet _right_ in the wake of whatever this was… and then she felt whatever was new on her body, and it moved to cover her… it was alright though nothing that held Okaa-sama's voice could be bad to her… Instead of the water she saw pink light, and with simple, careless thought she made a platform below her and let it send her to the surface, and listened as Okaa-sama's voice brushed against her thoughts.

" _Auf den Flügel wachsen,_ " [ _Rise on bladed wings,]_  
" _Und lass sie singen_ _,_ " [ _And let them sing,]_  
" _Lass das Schlachtfeld ungemacht werden,_ " [Let the battlefield be unmade,]  
" _Das ist der Wille des Seraph der Klingen._ " [Such is the will of the Seraph of Blades.]

" _Die Zahl ist auf siebenundsiebzig eingestellt._ _Man wird subtrahiert."_ [The number is set to seventy-seven. One is subtracted.]

She didn't know what those words meant, Razing Heart was likely speaking in Belkan after all, whatever language that was, there wasn't any need to know what it meant just yet. Still she rose and erupted into the sky amidst a great plume of water… at least it felt like she did

* * *

Neither of them had stopped and openly tried to aid Nanoha… even had both of them thought to do so and abided by a truce there was the matter of the girl herself… she was a near-rabid individual, and calling her a human would be far too generous after everything... she'd have attacked her 'savior' just because they were 'enemies'. Which left both of them continuing their aerial dogfight, tired and filled with a small amount of guilt that they were unable to help her for the four minutes and thirty-seven seconds since she fell… not until their current opponent was down could they try to.

Then without warning the ocean exploded with the force of a bombardment spell near them, and a flare of mana made their breath hitch in their throats and threaten to paralyze them. Both Chrono and Fate let their spells die, and in near tandem looked towards the fountain of water lightly sprinkling around them with 'rain', and then at the pink trail that streaked almost to the clouds, and that let what little guilt they held wash away with the water falling back to its home. Whatever had happened below the water… it'd made her able to fight again… and that was cause for both to be wary and apprehensive.

At the trail's end was a… 'object' of pink light, roughly the size that it would contain a child… and looked like it wasn't smooth in the slightest, as if everything making it up was overlapping. A moment passed by before motes began falling from it, drifting lightly towards the ocean below as the 'object' shifted and _unfurled_. A layer of pink lifted itself in a manner similar to a wing, followed by another as a human shape uncurled from the ball it was forced into… no she was forced into.

A young woman, no more than two decades old, with brown hair reaching her mid-back, blue-grey eyes and a serene smile met their gaze, dressed in a white kimono with two wings of pink light keeping her aloft and holding a katana in her left hand… Nanoha. If one had never seen her before or witnessed the actions she'd committed, one would think she was a picture of innocence, or at the very least a heavenly being meant to protect the weak.

Though with two simple thoughts the Seraph changed that.

* * *

' _Nanoha is a nine-year-old human girl, I'm neither human nor nine anymore, so I'm not Nanoha anymore. Okaa-sama's promise was given only to Nanoha, therefore I don't have to smile anymore, right?'_

' _Nanoha is a Takamachi, a Monster born to a clan of Monsters, I'm no longer Nanoha, so I'm not a Takamachi, nor am I a Monster. What does that leave me as? … That leaves me as the Seraph.'_

* * *

Once more without warning for them, the unsettling visage turned unnatural and terrifying.

The smile died into a thin line and with it died the fake light within those eyes, leaving behind a face as blank as a marionette's… It was _wrong_ for anything to look that 'dead' to the world… and with that, she appeared still as a heavenly being, only instead of protecting, she looked ready to destroy everything in her path and dispense judgement.

After that brief moment as terror washed through them and was replaced with shaky resolve, they heard a woman's voice, mechanical and tinged with a hint of madness and… something else, speak in a language neither understood. _"Kalibrierungen ausführen._ _Auto-guard als ineffizient erachtet. Ersatzzauber gefunden ersetzt._ _Augment-Zauber gefunden. Regime Mana Ausgabe._ _Kalibrierungen eingestellt._ Wiederherstellung gespeicherter Zaubersprüche, Senden von Zauberdaten an den Benutzer. _"_ [Running calibrations. Auto-guard deemed inefficient. Replacement spell found, replacing. Augment spells found. Regulating mana output. Calibrations set. Recovering stored spells, sending spell data to user.]

Resolve turned to confusion in the wake of that voice, before turning back into resolve as they prepared for the woman to fall upon them, though that resolve was nearly shattered completely by a single hollow statement from the Seraph that chilled their hearts back into numb terror.

"Razing Heart. _Burn it all away._ "

* * *

 _AN: The Seraph wakes, and is no longer shackled by any rules Nanoha tied herself with, the end nears and ash falls from the Seraph's bladed wings._

 _The end of the conception of the Seraph draws close. Ascend into the sky on your wings of light, and may you find glory before the inevitable requiem._


	9. Conception IX

_AN: A reply to menosay, I will be blunt in saying for these bits of language currently written, I won't translate them, the major point against doing it, aside from my stated reasons are simple: They aren't important. Every bit that was said is either cryptic to the point that I have to look over notes or recall multiple times to recall what they mean, a little poem that is going to be said in English later on, don't mean anything at all when compared to everything else or finally, can be inferred slightly from the actions surrounding what happens later._

 _Moving back to the word count, I will break down the last chapter, Fanfiction said that it was 6.9k words roughly, the actual content was only 6.37k roughly, my ANs were 365 words, the line-breaks count as roughly 50 words_ per _, adding the translations put another roughly 125 words to that, so in essence roughly 700 words, give or take a few tens, not part of the actual story, which would have been about a tenth of the chapter proper._

 _As for the non-translated parts that actually are important that come out later on, I will figure out a way to translate them in the story proper without adding additional words._

 _Amount of hugs needed: 6,941_

 _Amount of hugs found: 2,773_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

She always watched over her child, what mother wouldn't?

Though illness struck her body and forced her to send her youngest daughter instead of herself, she watched over her, always waiting to see if she needed to help save her beloved daughter. She never had to… not until today by the look of things.

Her Fate fought against the indirect murderers of her elder daughter and a Monster… there was no other way to describe that 'girl' than with that title. She'd watched each of her battles, ever since the first battle Fate had with 'Nanoha'… the sheer lengths that 'girl' went to just to fight and claim one of the Lost Logias… it was unnatural, and she'd once thought herself and her daughter willing to do anything.

She felt pride in seeing her Fate perform the Phalanx Shift as it was meant to be used, and then felt rage course through her veins at seeing the other two children 'gang up' on her daughter… but she calmed herself and the sparks dancing alongside her staff… It was still too early to interfere, still too early before she could let them know where their home was…

She felt confusion when the Monster began speaking things that made little sense, then more as the Monster rose above the clouds, there was terribly _wrong_ with that 'girl'… Fear welled again in her heart when that 'girl' descended from the clouds and smashed into her Fate and sent both into the ocean… and then relief formed when she saw her daughter rise from the water with only a few minor wounds.

Her daughter's familiar… her third, adopted daughter nervously watched the battle between the Monster, the Enforcer and Fate with her… they needed to wait… but preparations could be made in the mean-time. "Arf." The wolf-woman turned and gave her attention to her, though she kept glancing back at the image… what caring daughters she had, truly she was blessed… "Go get Rinith, quickly. Have her prepare a teleport to Fate's location and back here." Arf gave a nod of her head before she was rushing down the halls to find her own familiar… how she wished this illness of hers didn't nearly sever her bond to Rinith…

She watched as the Monster was sent into a building, saw the result leaving the 'girl' impaled on a rebar… and though she felt sadness for her daughter and the 'girl' she'd helped kill, she was relieved that her daughter was safe from the Monster. After that 'Nanoha' was beaten, she felt only confidence in her daughter being able to beat the Enforcer, she'd managed to stay out of the thick of much of the fighting, and been hit the least times by the 'Monster' before her fall.

… And then everything went wrong in a single instant… just like before…

The Monster rose from the ocean on wings of light only a few minutes later, and had she known less she'd have said she was an Angel rather than a Monster… but after everything she'd seen, everything that Fate had told her… that was no Angel, nor was it human. Rinith and Arf entered the 'throne room' running just in time for them to see the 'Angel' unfurl its wings, the former immediately setting to work making her calculations under her breath while the latter returned to watching the battle unfold. Herself…

She began channeling mana from the reactor to herself, now was the time to act, or else she may lose her second daughter to the Monster. A whisper escaped her lips, barely audible over the crackling of lightning gripping her stave, but something she was sure both Rinith and Arf heard, judging mostly by the latter's ears twitching. "Stay safe… Fate."

* * *

She watched over her child… she should be out there protecting him.

Nanoha… they'd thought that was the end of her when they'd captured her… they'd thought the only ones left to face were the boy and the girl and her familiar… _They'd thought wrong_.

The first thing was how the girl had gotten out, she'd busted off her restraints, chain binds of all things, and _rammed_ the door until the metal was broken… and from the drops of blood she'd went through it despite being injured by the door. The second was that she apparently was capable of using magic without aid from a device… and judging from the way she seemed to be using her magic… she was using _body augments_ on herself… those spells were outlawed in Administered Space for a reason.

This girl… she was suicidal with the way she was fighting… there was no other way to describe how she fought and acted… You don't immediately escape from a 'jail' and then immediately fight in a battle when over half of your body is in bad condition, such a thing was beyond stupid and likely to get you killed… "Admiral?" She turned and offered a cold eye at the man who brought Bob to her, said man flinching in response before she accepted the teacup and immediately set it into its active state and donned her Jacket, she had to be serious now, at least until she was sure Chrono was safe.

"How long before the teleporter is operational again?" Her voice was colder than it was usually was, and one of the technicians visibly shuddered in response before looking in her direction and giving her an estimate.

"Around fourteen more minutes Captain, and it'll be operating smoothly again, that girl only dislocated the power supply and wiped the last coordinates." She gave a nod before turning back to the screens showing the battle unfolding on the world ahead of them, an audible gasp of shock and slight horror resounding through the bridge as the girl they'd held was impaled.

She didn't give a visible reaction, though she felt a twinge of regret in response to that… she didn't like these kinds of takedowns… but in this case, it had to happen… and as she saw the girl fall into the she had a thought immediately turn to the girl in charge of monitoring the battle. "Amy, keep a screen dedicated to that girl." She got a few looks for that, but none of them were willing to question her decision, and then she turned back to the technicians and gave a second order to them. "Have the teleporter ready for a jump in five minutes."

Those men and woman on the other hand, gave her a look and the one to speak before gave a serious, near deadpan reply, "If you want it to send you anywhere within seventy kilometers of the original point and be able to get you and Chrono back, you'll have to wait eight. If you want it to be a one-way trip, we can get you down there in three with a deviation of five meters, however the teleporter will be down for another hour after that and you'll be in free-fall."

She acknowledged the 'complaint' of sorts with a nod before turning her head back to the screens and watching Chrono battle the other girl, with the former being battered around by the latter with a ludicrous amount of bombardment spells shot at him. "You have your orders, get it working in five minutes." The man nodded and got back to work with the other two, and she went back to watching. Her hands gripped her Device's shaft tightly as she watched her son get blasted with impunity by the younger girl, before alarms began blaring on the one screen dedicated to Nanoha.

"Huge mana signature coming from the area the girl fell into! Two- no, Three million, seven hundred thousand units!" Her head whipped over to the shivering girl alongside most of the bridge… _Three million_ … _almost four_ … She was right to be wary of that girl, but even so she wasn't prepared for _that much_ of a jump in mana, at most she'd expected reaching two million, two and an eighth like the other girl… _three times_ her original amount was insane. She didn't stay and question her subordinate, immediately making for the teleporter just as the technicians stepped away, the one who kept speaking stopping her just as she reached the edge.

"It's powering up, two minutes for a charge, and you and Enforcer Chrono will be on your own."

She gave a sidelong glance at the man, giving him a nod of acknowledgement, a moment passing in quiet noise before deciding to answer him verbally. "With the way this seems to be going, that's probably for the best. Now get this thing together before I let Bob tell everyone here one of his 'grand' stories." A tense, near fearful silence followed in those words' wake before work began again, the technicians making final adjustments and the bridge crew continuing to monitor the situation at hand. Things just kept getting _better_ and _better_ didn't they…

She could only wait… and hope to the Saint King that Chrono managed to survive with most of his bones and life intact by the time she arrived.

* * *

 _Her first memory had been of her on the floor being hugged by her sister, their mother watching with a happy smile and kind eyes, right before her sister kissed her on the lips. Those were days of bliss, learning about her sister and mother, playing with her sister in the fields around their home, being taught magic by mother… sister had been grouchy for a long time when she passed her in magic, something mother had openly_ giggled _over._

 _She wasn't normal, her, mother and sister knew that from the bottom of their hearts, yet they still loved her, and she loved them with all her heart in turn. She didn't age normally, not like sister did, but then she was born looking like this, a child rather than a baby. Sister didn't mind though, especially since she seemed to age physically a bit slower as well, though her growth was about two years behind her actual age compared to her being that age when she was only born, and barely aging a day for months._

 _Her and sister were very little alike, though they looked nearly identical, if it weren't for sister being shorter than her. She was shy, never speaking to anyone but mother and sister, calm, having put up with sister's and occasionally mother's antics, protective, keeping the other children from hurting her elder sister and keeping her sister from hurting herself. Sister was outgoing, always exuberant and bringing her along on random 'adventures', she was excitable, becoming interested in the slightest thing and laughing as they went on their business, clingy… Alicia had used her as a pillow so many times it had become natural to sleep like that._

 _They lived happily, mother worked for the Time-Space Administrative Bureau in making something she and sister couldn't explain or understand too well… though mother always made sure to have enough time to spend with her and sister. There were always picnics in the flower fields outside their home and mother would make her and sister flower circlets, and when mother wasn't there she and sister would go play amidst the white flowers, watch the sky, play hide and seek in the house… it really depended on sister._

" _Fate!" She only had a moment before she was tackled into the grass yet again by her sister, laughing cheerfully as they rolled before they stopped with her on the bottom, smiling gently up at her sister. A bit of sister's mischief rose in her and she moved her head up, lightly pecking sister's forehead with a kiss before settling back down, immediately resisting the urge to laugh as Alicia jumped away and blushed severely in response. She did giggle at the sight before she sat up again and gave an innocent smile. "Fateee! You're not supposed to do that until after we're married!"_

 _And then she was blushing from that remark… Alicia, upon seeing her the first time, had immediately been set upon marrying her… for some reason… something mother chuckled over at times and did nothing to stop… not that she really minded… Alicia was nice and quite pretty. She shook her head of that thought and immediately tackled her sister through the grass again… and somehow managed to end up on the bottom again… and then sister pecked her on the lips, grinned cheekily despite the blush on both their faces and snuggled with her. Mother's giggling could be heard in the distance as she walked towards them…_

 _This was bliss._

* * *

" _Fate! She's so cute~!"_

 _Those had been Alicia's first words upon meeting her familiar, and the third sister of their family, somehow combining the better of both her and Alicia's traits with a few of her own, cheerful and ready to play when needed, shy and clingy when not, protective of them and mother, she was the perfect little sister. Mother had found her on Mid-Childa while on a business trip, little Arf had been sick and was dying, she'd forced herself to read about familiars to save her… and she'd succeeded, though she was exhausted by the end._

 _Alicia adored Arf for the short time their family included the little wolf pup, always hugging the pup or her human form, much to the latter's embarrassment, whenever she had the chance. And then had come Rinith when mother was forced to work more often, she wasn't as adorable as their little sister, but she was another caring mother in their admittedly kind of strange family. Life was well, she learned magic, sister used her as a pillow and occasional ride, Arf also used her as a pillow whenever she herself wasn't used as Alicia's teddy bear and Rinith took care of them in mother's stead._

… _And then_ everything _went wrong in a single instant._

 _They'd been just about ready to head to bed, mother had been late again so Rinith was walking them to their bed… and then she had felt a flare of mana, and everything was suddenly on fire and everything hurt… Mother was over her… tears were brimming at her eyes… so she quietly wiped them away… and then mother was crying and hugging her tightly…_

 _Mother picked her up, cradling her in her arms like she was only a newborn… she looked around… and saw nothing but a sea of flames… she was scared… where were Alicia, Arf and Rinith? "Fate… don't leave me… please, don't leave me…" Tears brimmed in her own eyes… and she was crying too… she felt for her magic, and found a connection… and she gingerly brushed against it, feeling more pain… and she took it all from her little sister… That's what big sisters did… right?_

" _Alicia…" And with that single word she snapped mother out of her… something… and immediately they were off looking for their family…_

 _They found Rinith first, burned in multiple places and lying on the ground breathing hard… Mother healed her and helped her up, draping the familiar's arm around her shoulder and moving through the hell… They continued stumbling through the flames… past the ruins of structures until they came across Arf, burned but moving and in tears… she had a body in her arms… Alicia… What little strength she had in her frame left her at the sight… Rinith and Arf were little better… Mother managed to reign her strength in though._

 _Mother was strong enough, both magically and mentally, to prepare a mass teleport, and they were gone from their old home…_

* * *

 _Mother cut ties with TSAB after that event… and the mood of the family quickly deteriorated in the wake the disaster, mother because she'd lost one of her precious daughters, Rinith for the same reason, Arf for losing a big sister and one of the two people she swore to protect… herself for losing the single most important person to her… She trained in magic with a fervor after that, mother wouldn't let Alicia simply remain dead… no she'd find a way to bring her back so that they'd be a loving family again, and she'd do everything she could to let her big sister live again._

 _And so, it was that mother went and researched about the various methods, and she trained to be on par with mother, tutored by Rinith and training with Arf… the latter was hard since her body wasn't suited to fighting physically, not like Arf. Still she tried her best, and continued to get up, time, after time, after time until her body couldn't handle it anymore and she collapsed to the ground. She tried her best… but her best left her after several years only at a level of being able to fend off Arf in close combat… though her magic aptitude was only a few levels below mother as a result._

 _They had to move only once, and mother decided to take their home with them into the Dimensional Space… mother was beyond her prime and sick, yet she still managed to do things that were far beyond her. Their home was somber, Rinith continued to raise her and Arf, mother was always researching and sending her off after anything that could hopefully bring Alicia back, and she and Arf tried to keep their minds off the lack of a person in their games and studies._

 _None of the things mother found never worked… not until mother had stumbled upon the Jewel Seeds in a missive from the Scrya clan to the Bureau. Mother had destroyed the ship in-route to the Bureau with a single spell, and then had sent her and Arf after the Jewel Seeds, which after numerous battles, Jewels and surprises_ led to this moment, where she was completely and utterly terrified of the Monstrous Angel floating before her and Chrono.

… She was nowhere near where she needed to be to physically and magically to fight whatever had become of Nanoha… she'd been hoping the Phalanx Shift would knock out or at least injure the Enforcer or Nanoha, and had put a lot of what remained of her mana into it… Her reserves were running low… and while she was certainly better than the boy floating next to her, she was hurt rather badly… Mother help her… please… she'd hold out as long as she could… but in the face of _this_ … she doubted her chances… she doubted _Arf's_ chances.

And then the device started speaking _something_ , leaving her confused and a bit more confident when the Angel didn't react at all to whatever language it chose to speak… that lasted until the thing's eyes landed on her and those words were uttered. Terror replaced the confidence and confusion, and with a single beat of her wings and explosion of whatever kept her flying she was gone…

Immediately she looked over at her other opponent… and found only the Seraph waiting there. Faintly she heard the crash of water in the background, barely registering that as Chrono until her mind caught up a moment later and she saw the Seraph pulling her free hand back to her side… She… she… she went fast enough to go _seventy meters_ in a _second_ from rest… and didn't even look _uncomfortable_ about that speed.

Her mind stopped as the Seraph looked over at her… there was nothing in that face… no light in her eyes nor any emotion… just nothingness… She barely noticed that she'd brought Bardiche up and had leveled his head at the woman until the first Photon Lancer was in the air and fired… and she watched as a pink shield formed in the air in the way of her shot… it wasn't circular… it was tiny… _and_ it wasn't facing her shot.

Her spell hit the shield barely large enough to even cover its caster's torso and shattered it in a single shot… and somehow went behind the Seraph… and she didn't even react at all, though her Device spouted off something else in the meanwhile. " _Abwurf, Nachbearbeitung von Berechnungen._ " Another Photon Lancer was launched, another tiny, triangular shield was made… _facing even more_ _away_ from her bolt.

This time when her spell hit the shield, the latter didn't break, instead her shot careened off into the distance while the shield lingered for a second before vanishing. After that, she loosed the rest of the volley at her, and a swarm of shields rose up in response… a short five seconds, and _all_ of her Photon Lancers were deflected sans a single one that struck her face… the Seraph didn't _flinch_.

The rest of the woman's body turned to face her, while her wings drew back in preparation for another charge, she braced herself and a shield manifested itself in front of her in response… and the wings were thrown forward. She expected the Seraph to slam into her, or swing her blade… she didn't expect feathers of mana to shoot from the wings and impact against her shield… nor did she expect the sheer amount that were launched.

That… 'spell's' bolts struck her shield, and they _stuck_ into the shield… after the first dozen she lost count since her shield broke and she brought her arms up to protect herself… which probably saved her from death as a 'feather' embedded itself into her hand, while the rest hit nearly everywhere else. She felt blood drip from numerous wounds, and slowly brought her arms down… she had _so_ many 'feathers' in her arms… and they were only now fading away…

She immediately flew backwards to get away from the Monster, mana rising up and gathering at her command as she prepared a Thunder Smasher… 'Nanoha' didn't try and chase after her for some reason. Questioning why would have been a waste of time, so she didn't bother and instead aimed up her spell, two seconds passing before she let loose the bombardment.

Once more once of those shields sprung up, and it thankfully failed completely at stopping her Thunder Smasher, with the latter plowing through the shield and into the Seraph and detonate on contact. Smoke obscured her opponent from view, and while she strained to peer through it to see if she'd done any damage, a crash sounded to her side and caught her attention… Chrono was up… in terrible condition, but still up. She looked back just as the cloud cleared… and aside from a few scorch marks along her Jacket's fabric and a scuff mark on her cheek she didn't appear to have been _touched_ by the spell… _Wonderful._

* * *

"Die Prüfung wurde abgeschlossen. Alle Funktionen arbeiten im Standard von fünf Prozent Fehler. _"_

"Lass dich los und decke deine Flügel in Asche-gefärbtem Blut. _"_

* * *

'Nanoha's' Device said something, and then she was flying before pain registered in her abdomen.

A gasp choked its way out of her mouth before she _tore_ along the surface of the water before managing to pull herself up, and immediately slammed back into the water by the woman… or something she sent at her. And then her eyes widened as more of those 'feathers' followed her down… and then she relaxed as they stalled halfway to her… so they weren't fast, that was good to know. Bardiche shifted to his scythe form, igniting in the water around her in a burst of bubbles before she rocketed off further away, the Seraph would likely be waiting at the surface for her, and even if she had a higher acceleration than before, she was still slower than her once she'd reached top speed... hopefully.

She surfaced again and inhaled deeply… before immediately made a shield as a wave of pink nearly crashed into her… followed by her dodging out of the way of Chrono as he flew away from the Seraph. She sent an Arc Saber her way while the Enforcer flipped and sent one of his guided projectiles behind him, her spell smashing into the woman and making her stagger a step… Chrono's spell did _nothing_ to her except ping off.

'Nanoha's' sword swept through the air and another wave was sent after the Enforcer, seemingly ignoring that she'd been the one to stagger her, a shield popping up shortly to take the hit in his stead. She was fine with being the one ignored, and so she set Bardiche back to its regular form and fired a few high-powered Photon Lancers after her, she saw a wing launch a single volley of 'feathers' at the Enforcer… or rather a bit ahead of him… He slowed in response and tried to go below… the Seraph caught up and he turned in response as she lunged at him, one of his mana blades formed above him and fired near-instantly to strike the woman through the chest and for the first time since she rose, spray blood.

The Seraph seemingly didn't even register being hit or the wound, and continued charging directly into Chrono, smashing into him with a wing between them before her blade struck out. A slash across his chest from shoulder to chest and a stab through his left shoulder before her wing pushed him away two steps… and then the other came and ground against his device with a screech. Another stab found the sword in Chrono's abdomen... and then came the first wing and a scream of pain.

Her Thunder Smasher died as she saw part of the boy's arm fall into the ocean… and then an explosion followed that sent the boy careening away. … 'Nanoha' just… She was forced out of her shock without warning by the pain of another of those waves crashing into her… it didn't do nearly as much as she'd expect but it startled her and set her moving again… Of course, a shield had to be made to take the 'feathers' shot at her… she wouldn't be moving fast enough to get away.

Bardiche once more shifted forms and ignited his blade… against the Seraph she had no hope of so much as holding her own in a fight of blades… but she could stall and hope that something came to their rescue, Mother, Arf, or that Lindy woman… anyone was preferred at this point. The shield shattered and another took its place shortly after, which shattered immediately from the Angel crashing through it, Bardiche immediately blocking the first strike and throwing it away. A flare erupted above her and her hopes soa- and then she received a face-full of 'feathers' trying to kill her.

A shield rose and was shattered in an instant, she struck out and scored a hit across the woman's neck… leaving only a light line with a tiny drop of blood dripping down… The Seraph rose her blade up in response… and in dropped Lindy with a hammer that sent the Seraph into the ocean with a plume of rising water. Her prayer was answered for once… wait…

 _Why was her hammer on fire?_

* * *

When the light faded from her eyes, she was passing through the clouds on a course for the ocean below her… why the barrier decided it wanted to flood the city was beyond her ability to understand so she instead focused on the specks below her. _"All safeties disengaged, your ladyship._ _ **Igniting**_ _."_ Emerald fire burst into being around Bob's head as he stated those words, in sync with her as she finished moving him behind her. A little vengeance for her Chrono… for whatever had made him scream.

She began the downward swing the moment both 'Nanoha' and the other girl could be made out… and with barely a sound she crashed into the Angel as she was about to lay into the girl. A glimpse was taken of the 'woman's' face before she was sent into the water… blank and lacking any form of pain recognition…

A crash sounded the moment she hit the water… silence reigned for a short while before the woman calmly _walked_ out of the water like it was stairs. …Then she just waited… looking up at them with a passive face and unmoving from her spot, at least that allowed her to get to Chrono and look him over, one she spotted him. Ten long seconds spent searching and she found him dragging himself out of the water onto a surfaced piece of rubble, a quick look sent at the still-unmoving woman staring at her showed what she expected, before she quickly made her way over to him.

He was in pain, that was obvious given he'd just lost his left forearm, and blood was smeared along the concrete leading up to his position… he was in no condition to continue fighting at this point. She landed softly next to him, Bob's fire dimming as a Physical Heal coated the wound and began healing it, it wouldn't lessen the pain, but Chrono wouldn't bleed out. He was going to say something, but was stopped first by a fit of coughing and then by her, and with the second he finally looked up at her and paled, "Enforcer Harlaown. You have been grievously injured and are in no condition to continue fighting."

He didn't say a single word in response to that, there was still more to say… unfortunately for them the teleporter wasn't working and wouldn't be working for a while. "Due to equipment being damaged in the breakout, you aren't able to evacuate the site." His pained grimace grew a bit with that news, color being regained in the wake of her 'business mode'. "Due to this, you are to maintain distance and provide support _only_ when she's focused on me. Understood?"

A quick nod was given, and she helped him up, her healing spell fading away into the fire the moment there wasn't any more bleeding, and with that both of them took back to the air and looked towards the 'Angel'… who was _still_ in the same exact spot and staring at her… At this point it was just creepy and a bit annoying to see that.

* * *

' _A hero arrives, it's the Admiral of the Arthra. Are they my hero? Are they a hero of heroes, or just another faceless hero?'_

' _Only a Hero of Heroes may kill a Monster of Monsters. Just as only a Monster of Monsters may kill a Hero of Heroes.' "Which are you Admiral?"_

* * *

For the first time since she'd risen, 'Nanoha' spoke, addressing her with a question that made absolutely no sense at all. She didn't even get a chance to try and make sense of whatever those words meant, as the other woman decided she was done standing still and, with a beat of her wings and an explosion at her feet, rocketed through the air straight at her. A shield of emerald greeted the woman upon reaching her, and though it cracked upon blocking a fist, it held long enough for her to swing her own hammer… and skid along the much smaller pink shield that formed out of no-where.

That was the smallest shield she'd ever seen… and the first one that was used to deflect rather than block something.

Her thoughts didn't distract her from ducking under the wing that tore through her shield to gouge her neck out, nor did they distract her from back-stepping the following slash sent the other way… it did distract her from the spell sent from the blade. Pink flew for a brief moment and smashed into her with all the strength of a light breeze… she expected something, 'worse' perhaps?

Of course that tempted fate, and fate was quite the giddy child whenever it was tempted. So it decided that she wanted a sword trying to carve out her eye, thankfully a shield stopped that before it as dangerously close, but it still reinforced that she shouldn't have thought that… or it was just a coincidence… either worked. Another wing, the right it looked like, tried to tear her arm off while she thought that… she really needed to focus… Bob's handle sent sparks as the wing ground against it, the appendage barely managing to flit along her skin and draw blood, just a light cut that wouldn't impede her.

She leveled Bob at the Angel's chest, a shield manifesting on her left to block the sword out for blood as she charged up a Blaze Cannon, and with only a bland apology and naming, fired the spell directly into her chest. Emerald light enveloped the woman in a single second and a deafening roar sounded, for seven seconds she had no idea if the spell even worked… apparently, it didn't do anything but put scorch marks and scuff marks on the Seraph... and a little droplet of blood from her mouth.

Then came two volleys from Chrono and the other girl, the latter she only half-expected to still be here, the former sending several Stinger Snipes towards the Seraph, and the other sending a hail of yellow bolts surrounded in purple lighting… she had no idea _what_ spell that was. The latter's spells reached 'Nanoha' first, her shields flaring up enmasse to deflect the shots, thankfully for them, the shields shattered on impact with the unknown bolts and they continued without issue.

Unfortunately for them, the Seraph had time for another set of shields, and about two-thirds of the volley went wide… the other third… The other third tore through the woman's skin and clothing as if it was made of paper, five plumes of blood were sent into the air, three directs hits, another two glancing that were headed at Chrono. Aside from a single step, she didn't react at all to the severe damage the other girl did… she had _muscle_ exposed and bleeding and she wasn't doing anything. And last came Chrono's volley… which pinged off of the Seraph's skin, and even the exposed muscle as if it was metal… well then.

Another blank look from the Seraph greeted her gaze as the wings stretched forward, then flared back as she simultaneously sent a volley of feathers at both the girl and Chrono and rocketed towards her. She was prepared this time though, and met the stab of the sword with a shield, watching it crack open as she swung Bob around quicker than she'd done prior and clocked the woman in the face with the pommel… that didn't do any damage but-

She immediately regretted that thought as she brought Bob up, blocking first the wing that came to disembowel her, then spinning the hammer around to parry the sword away, _then_ ducking under the other wing and finally dodging away from a sweeping leg. ... Then came the volley of 'feather's burrowing into her clothing and pinging off her meager armor, and _more_ blows… she somehow got out another assault of quick blows and threw one of her own that promptly got deflected by another of her shields… great… Another volley of yellow bolts were cast by the girl, and somehow despite them coming from behind her, another swarm of those damn shields made themselves, and def-

Immediately she ducked to avoid one of those bolts plowing through her head, followed by side-stepping the sword as it tried to slide into her ribs. She forced mana into Bob and let it circulate through him as she dodged a fist that would have broken her ribs, once he had accepted everything she swung again at the Seraph. This time she wasn't thwarted in her attempt by a shield, smashing the spell aside and slamming Bob's head into the woman's arm, and then immediately backed off to avoid both wings keen on taking off her arms.

On, and on they continued fighting for another minute, she dodged, parried and blocked, she took a few wounds and dealt a few in turn. 'Nanoha'… she fought without any sense of swordsmanship or skill, more like she was just swinging and overpowering her, slowly but surely. Two more times she let Bob take the offensive, and another three volleys were sent, he lost track of the amount of times the Seraph swung. On and on, they continued fighting.

A swipe down was parried away, and without warning blood sprayed from the Seraph as a blue blade erupted out of her chest, a bit managed to splash onto her face as the Seraph stumbled a step. That was enough for her to bring her hammer up to clock the woman in the head, an explosion deafened her hearing and smoke obscuring 'Nanoha's' form for a moment as she let off her one actual melee spell, Magnum Corona. It wasn't anything special, just a bunch of mana packed at Bob's head and released upon impact, nothing more, nothing less, that said, it was as strong as a Bombardment spell and didn't have a safety setting, which is why she barely used it.

The smoke cleared as her hammer went back to a ready stance… what she saw was the Seraph looking skyward with only a few scorch marks and bleeding showing any damage to her face, and the Stinger Blade still in her chest. Then despite everything that had happened, _she looked back down_ _at her_. Passive, blank eyes stared at her for a moment before she looked down at the Stinger Blade in her chest, 'calmly' placing her free hand over the tip protruding and pushing hard enough that the spell flew out and dissipated back into man.

… And then her wounds began healing, as if she were just turning back the clock a minute prior… even her _clothing_ repaired itself to how it was before she'd started fighting… she felt her 'mask' of sorts crack a bit in response to that sheer indifference and bullshit spell. Another whine was made, just for that brief moment and only encompassed four words, but it held most of her displeasure and envy about that little 'spell' of 'Nanoha's'.

"That is _so_ unfair!"

She swore she saw a twitch in her mouth, right before a shield separated them and deflected the sword with a scaping and several cracks, followed by the Angel's fist shattering the remainder of her shield as she ducked under it. Bob was swung in return as her features set themselves back together, grinding against the small pink shields that made every attempted hit miss spectacularly... six tries to get past those shields, and not one got through. A flip made over 'Nanoha' caused another of her slashes to miss, Bob snaking out and smashing through another of the shields and finally delivering another Magnum Corona, and through the smoke she blocked… something that sent her flying out and further towards the sea.

A long few seconds were spent flying before she righted herself and brought up her hammer to block the next swing… only none came as she stayed where she'd defied death and simply stared in her direction. Well, that was nice that the Seraph let her rest a bit… but, why would she do that was the bigger question.

The Seraph looked down at them from her perch amidst the sky, eyes still as blank and lifeless as they were since she'd changed from Nanoha… then she did something strange, she held her free hand out towards them, as if asking them to take it. Her wings… her wings seemed to shift before breaking apart into clumps of mana, and headed for her palm, trailing along her forearm and neck until they flickered like a flame. A moment, then four passed before another set of wings erupted from her back, and a panicked voice echoed into her head.

" _Captain! Her mana levels… they just rose to seven point six million!"_ … She could understand the near-four million _…_ somewhat, now that she'd seen Nanoha in this state. _Seven and a half million_ was beyond what was possible for all but S-ranks or higher, and even then, those S-ranks were normally at their prime. She brought herself back just as all of the wings collected into the 'flame', making it only a bit larger than the original. Then the blade was held out, and the 'flame' put against it before being ground against the metal.

The mana coating the blade grew erratic and flame-like as her hand passed over, and the 'flame' grew smaller and smaller until it faded into the tip and her hand fell back to her side. Which resulted in them looking upon the Seraph, holding a flaming pink blade that went around to scrape against the platform she stood on until she couldn't reach any farther, then a step was taken and the sword scraped back along its prior path. Motes were lifting off like embers from the 'fire' and flitting around their creator... she could call the sight entrancing were she not worried over being hit by an attack.

The sword swept up into the air and the Angel turned with it, a step taking her forward still as her weapon passed above her head, her second hand coming up and taking hold of the handle as well. And then the Seraph stopped, with hands above her head and motes circling her… she thought she saw something faintly glisten along her cheek before flew away from the woman.

A voice carried along the wind… at odds with the woman they'd been fighting in its gentleness, but they couldn't make out the words…

* * *

" _Sing for the ash you leave behind…"_

" **Großartige Verwüstung** "

* * *

With a howl and downward swing the spell was loosed upon the world.

Each of them ran from the pink wave… no pink _wall_ of light that erupted from the blade, stretching from the clouds into the sea, and while thankfully the wall was narrow, the sheer force pushed everything that wasn't in its path away from it… and kept _going_. She didn't know how far the spell went, but she did know it lasted four seconds before the spell started falling apart, and it was still moving, and after another six it broke apart and showed them the marred world left in its wake.

The clouds were ripped apart to show the sunlit sky while water was filling in the gaps made in the ocean by the mana. She caught a glimpse of glowing red before the water obscured the ground, before proceeding to look back… at… What was once Nanoha had torn a several of the skyscrapers in half, the material making them up _glowing_ red and looking like slag… and one building still upright in the distance had been carved in half totally… it was just two pillars jutting from the sea to the sky…

After a barely a few seconds spent looking over the devastation she turned to look for her son and tentative ally, finding the latter surveying the damage with slightly wide eyes after a short moment of looking and finding the former… laid against a jutting ruin just above the sea. She resisted the urge to immediately bolt to his side, and the only thing that held her back was another message from Amy ringing in her head, _"Designated target… she's at a mana level of ten thousand…"_ "Acknowledged Amy, keep monitoring."

… She fired a single spell, holding _seven point six million_ units of mana that lasted barely ten seconds… even if her device had been set to safety, that much would have _killed_ someone outright even with a shield, unless the target had unnatural durability like the Seraph herself. At this point… she understood how terribly outmatched they were compared to the Seraph, even so… for Chrono to live and be happy for once, she'd lay her life down.

* * *

"Überschüssige Hitze bei hundert und siebenunddreißig Prozent des akzeptierten Wertes. Fehler… Excess Heat at one hundred and thirty-seven percent of accepted value. Error, Venting system not found, unable to vent excess heat."

" _Force it elsewhere."_

"Acknowledging. Safety restriction, zero point one-five disabled."

* * *

And without warning, the Seraph's free hand flew to her mouth and she… coughed, for a solid half-minute she went into a fit, halfway through that her wings 'regrew' themselves and wrapped around themselves around her. So that massive spell she'd launched was detrimental to her health… that was both saddening and a relief. Slowly she stopped and the hand left her face… there were three, glistening red trails marring her face, one on the right falling from the corner of her mouth, and another two 'tears' falling from her left eye… What a sad little girl.

That was when the other girl decided she was done being someone's ally and headed straight after Chrono, both her and the Seraph snapped directly to her and charged… she wouldn't make it… that didn't mean she couldn't hope for the other woman to catch the girl. Of course… just like that day several years ago, fate itself played a cruel blow to her desire.

Lightning sparked for the first time during this entire battle… and down came a bolt of violet that struck the Seraph and paused her pursuit… a second passing before the wings beat again and she continued… she was certain almost nothing could stop that Angel after everything they'd thrown at her.

A flare of mana erupted near the surface of the water, and from the soft yellow light spilled forth the familiar of the girl and another woman… garbed in a white coat trimmed in brown pinned at her waist, brown sleeves with belts at the end, black boots, some kind of suit it looked like covering her legs and torso and a white hat with two brown lines… another accomplice? They were far enough away, and so as she listened to Bob releasing one of the many safeties forced on him, she cast her simplest spell in mass, and let them fill with her mana. Three dozen flickering flames surrounded her, and as the other girl reached her son, she let loose at the newcomers.

They were based on the simple Shoot Barret… just filled with more mana so they'd go faster and hit harder, nothing major yet still enough to warrant it a restriction with the way she'd used it in the past. Vaguely she saw the single Lost Logia Chrono had obtained appear over his body, and then the girl snagged it and was off towards her familiar, with the Seraph almost on her. Her spells found their target immediately after, the shield the familiar brought up shatter after three hits before she wised up and just started dodging… which didn't work at all due to their speed and number. Seven of the thirty-six hit, and shortly after the familiar emerged from the cloud made and charged straight at the Angel…

There was reckless abandon in protecting something, and then there was suicidal determination.

The wolf-woman raised her fist and swung at the Angel… the latter dodging the blow with ease before sending the wolf-woman back without even slowing down… that had been a stupid idea… the chain binds shortly after, better but not enough. That Seraph… she didn't even register the chains as being there since she kept going despite the mana… but they slowed her down enough that the other girl and her familiar reached the unknown woman, another flare of mana took place just before the Seraph would have reached them. And then they were gone.

She stopped and watched the woman smash into the ocean in a spray of water, and then erupt back out a few seconds later, the blank look on her face still there despite the mishap occurring just now… That left only her against a woman that went through buildings, was ridiculously strong and was immune to almost every shooting spell… Saint-King, if you have any control over fate, please save her from a fight that wasn't even needed at this point.

"Nanoha!"

… Saint-King… you are a kind woman… Immediately she looked over in the direction of the voice, off to her left in the direction of the standing buildings. It was that boy that had accompanied Nanoha to each fight before… she didn't have his name but he looked somewhat familiar… Hopefully he'd be able to end this fight, seeing as they no longer had any Lost Logia and didn't want to fight for them, she'd be able to see reason.

The Seraph looked over at the approaching boy… and her face remained unchanged, though she stopped all other movement… a good sign hopefully. Whoever the boy was, he was out of breath and appeared to have gotten little sleep in the past day, though his face lit up with a bit of relief and confusion at the sight of the woman. "Nanoha, you're alright… Oh thank goodness…"

'Nanoha' tilted her head in response to that… that was the first gesture she'd seen the Seraph do that wasn't stare, hit or slash… and it somehow made her look even more 'wrong' than when she hadn't. Still, the boy despite being a little disturbed was far too relieved to care, continuing speaking even when no verbal reply was given that she'd even heard, "The battle's over, so you can stop now and let me handle the rest until the next battle."

The Seraph's head returned to its normal position the moment he finished… and then waited…

* * *

' _Nanoha? That was the name of the girl she wasn't currently. …There wasn't any reason to fight anymore?'_

' _Then the Seraph of Blades wasn't needed anymore… so it was time to sleep and let Nanoha take the reins again. She'd be waiting… until it was time to lay waste to everything again.'_

* * *

Pink light gathered around the woman's body after a minute of silence, while her wings wrapped around herself… then the wings dissolved feather by feather and drifted off into the light breeze, leaving behind a smiling little girl. And then came the device she couldn't understand, saying something in its language before falling silent again. _"Die Zahl ist auf siebenundsiebzig eingestellt, fünf werden subtrahiert. Die Zahl ist auf zweiundsiebzig eingestellt."_ [The number is set to seventy-seven, five are subtracted. The number is set to seventy-two.]

She let out a sigh of relief, making both Nanoha and the boy look over at her as she laid herself out on the building… no more serious mode and fighting… finally. "You sure to-"

" _Finish that sentence and I'll set her on you._ " … Alright, someone was in a bad mood. "I've had five hours of sleep for the past two nights, been worried over Nanoha throughout my time awake, and was extremely late to whatever happened here. _Do not say anything implying I took my time_." And now it made sense… sort of. Well, she was fine with it so long as she didn't have to fight that juggernaut again… once was enough to last her a lifetime… or seven… yes, seven lifetimes.

And now there was just the issue of the girl and whoever was helping her, which hopefully the bridge crew were tracking the location of… might as well ask since they both were technically enemies with the girl for the moment. "Alright then, seeing as we have no reason to fight anymore and we have a common… 'enemy', do either of you have any complaints with aiding us against the other girl and whoever else is with her so that neither of you get labeled a criminal?" Nanoha gave a shrug before turning to look over at the boy… that was Scrya garb…

The boy took a moment to think over her words, a frown taking over his relieved look before he looked up at her and his face was set in determination, "So long as the Jewel Seeds are brought together and contained in a safe location after this, we'll agree." Jewel Seeds, so that was what these Lost Logia were called… she understood the 'jewel' part… but the 'seed' made no sense to her… Meh, it wasn't her responsibility to decide names, just issue orders and occasionally knock a head or two.

She gave a nod before sighing in relief… then recalled where her son was and immediately bolted over to his thankfully stirring form… another relief-filled sigh left her lips before she got to him and began patching him up. A Boosted Heal gently laid itself over Chrono as the other two children floated, or walked in Nanoha's case, over to them… this wasn't the best place for healing…

A short moment after that thought she tried to get a connection to the _Arthra_ … and after a longer than usual bit of static she found herself looking at Amy… who looked worried and relieved over something, well there would be a time to tease her about Chrono later. With a jovial tone that didn't belong here just yet, she cut Amy off with her usual smile, "Amy, any idea when that teleporter will be up and running." Whatever she was going to say was abandoned as she turned around and called out to the technicians that were hopefully repairing or done repairing the teleporter, before turning back to her.

" _Around one more minute Captain."_ Not that long then, that just left one last thing… "And the coordinates for the other girl and her accomplices?" _"Already calculated and inputted into the teleporter, we're waiting on your order and the teleporter being fixed."_ The smile she received with that very prompt response made her chuckle briefly, a shake of her head ending her bout of laughter and making her almost miss the light reddening of Amy's cheeks. Oh, how precious~

She let the connection die shortly before anything else could occur, a light hum escaping before she turned to look over at her new… 'allies'… children in only name, at least for Nanoha that was true. On one hand, she was happy to have them, Nanoha herself was a force to be reckoned with, and while she didn't know what the boy was capable of, she did know he was the _only_ one that Nanoha would remotely listen to. On the other… she pitied that girl and boy… they took things far too seriously and didn't act like they should have… and there was also a bit of resentment under her facade from the former taking Chrono's hand…

Well… there was nothing that she could do there, not yet at least… which left them in two separate groups each in silence, broken only by Chrono getting up on his own. Things hopefully would be better from here on out… she doubted that but she could hope… she really needed a good cup of tea after this was over.

* * *

 _AN: For those wondering, Alicia's birth was pushed forward in time by ten years, and then her death fourteen years, so she's nine at the time of her death, Fate was 'born' as a seven-year old two years before Alicia's death and her aging process is_ far _slower, resulting in her appearing as a nine-year old despite being the same age as Chrono. Her physical age grows by 'one year' for every seven years._

 _To put that in perspective, the average age of a human is 79yrs, Fate's average lifespan as of current is_ 504yrs _. On the drawback, while her ability with magic will increase, it'll do it at a lower rate than her canon self._


	10. Conception X

_Amount of hugs needed: 8057_

 _Amount of hugs found: 3,031_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

Being the 'Seraph of Blades' had been… strange.

At that time, she'd felt… _right_ , as if she was meant to be and feel like she had from the day she'd been born, yet at the same time… it wasn't her. She was used to being considered a Monster, or at the least unnatural, and she'd felt a bit of… something creep into her body as she had fought the Enforcer and Fate, something that made her say, think and feel different than normal. The Seraph... the Seraph was something else entirely.

It had felt like she had stepped back and let something else take her place after realizing she wasn't her anymore, and now there was a strange 'nipping' at the back of her mind that was quite uncomfortable. Whatever it was, it didn't feel wrong, just… annoying and a bit painful.

Razing Heart, or whatever her name was, had remained silent since her last words, whether that was due to not wanting to talk or she was resting, she didn't know, nor did she want to ask. After allowing her to continue fighting, and the ability to complete her job, the Device had earned the right to remain silent for the rest of today, not tomorrow though, she had a lot to learn still. There was the history of the 'Seraphs' of old, there was learning about why she had something gnawing at her and the spells used to make and aid her.

Until then though, she made do with the few bits of knowledge she knew, 'Razing Heart' was a name given to her by today's society, she served royalty at some point, and she was the weapon of the 'Seraphs'. Hmm… Scrya-san had said something about Kings and Queens in the Ancient Belkan era… that would explain the language barrier…

Scrya-san… he looked rather ragged compared to usual, looking tired and not too much alert, though he was a bit more forceful compared to what she was used to Lindy… was he unwell? Did something happen to him while she was captured? She hoped not… he was a nice employer and had given her a lot in exchange for collecting and fighting for him, and if something happened while she wasn't there for him she'd feel a bit worse.

That said, he had appeared… relieved? Yes… maybe, 'relieved' at having her around again, so maybe it was just because she had been away from him that he was a little worse off than normal… wasn't she supposed to feel something for worrying others? Maybe being the Seraph had knocked something loose in her head, that or one of Lindy's hammer blows… it probably didn't matter.

What did matter was his decision to 'partner' with the TSAB forces that she'd been fighting, which meant she was no longer against them or they against her. She didn't care much about working with the Admiral and Enforcer, neither of them had any more of the Jewel Seeds so there wasn't any reason to fight them, and apparently they hadn't even come with the intent to get them... his fault for dropping in on her fight over a Jewel. The only real thing to come of this deal was neither of them would be considered criminals, or rather they'd be pardoned of any crimes they'd committed in exchange for the Jewel Seeds being locked up when they were done.

Still, it felt a bit strange to willingly let herself be teleported back into the place she'd just escaped, but that could easily be ignored to focus on Scrya-san and Lindy… and the Enforcer, whose name she'd now found to be Chrono, as well. The boy really should just go to the infirmary on this ship to get his arm looked at rather than argue with his mother about him _needing_ to continue. "-ine, I'll go get a check-up the moment the operation is done."

They'd been going for about… seven minutes now and neither wanted to budge an inch, it was both annoying because of the wait and amusing for something you'd expect of a normal family, minus the topic they were speaking about. "No, you're not, you got hit with several bombardment spells, slammed into several things of concrete _and_ had your arm torn off, you _are not_ _going into another combat zone_." Chrono and Lindy stared at one another for a moment in silence again before the latter gave a sigh and placed a hand on her face. "If you go, I'll get you a prosthetic to replace it within a month, and you can do whatever you want to it."

Another moment of silence, a small, near-invisible smile appearing on the boy's face as he registered the words before immediately giving a nod and walking off towards the door… what was so great about a prosthetic arm? "Haa… there goes my paycheck." Her gaze went back to Lindy as she shook her head and turned back to the screens, it didn't sound like she was disappointed or whatever other emotion it could be, but she wouldn't really know. "Nanoha?"

She focused back on the Admiral when her name was called, finding her having not moved a single muscle as she stared at the… giant floating mountain studded with random lights… was this a common occurrence? "Would you mind introducing your companion to me, or would he like to do so when he wakes up?" She wasn't allowed to answer that, if an employer wanted their name to be known, they would say it themselves or specifically tell her to say their name, Scrya-san hadn't said he wanted her to, so she'd stay quiet.

A few moments of awkward silence followed before the Admiral once again held her hand up to her face, sighing softly before muttering, "Of course you remain silent, you don't say anything unless it's something trivial and kind of meaningless." Another sigh was uttered amidst her shaking her head, stopping only after she took a breath and looked back at her, and Scrya-san sleeping soundly while hanging onto her shoulders. "… I believe you need to put him down so he can sleep, Nanoha… kun?"

Likely, she should, except she didn't know where any rooms were… also, her smile twitched the barest amount at the breaking of her name, the honorific she'd used was wrong. "Nanoha- _san_ or Nanoha- _chan_ , kun is for boys." Another pause, before Lindy slapped her face loud enough to make a sound… she needed a lot more practice before he was ready to talk to someone else, anyway she continued on, "I don't know where the nearest bed is."

That was a simple thing to admit… it wasn't like she'd searched the place when she broke out, nor did she even know where she'd been held was… a downside to her just listening to Razing Heart's whispering rather than searching the hard way. Lindy took a moment to remove her hand and slowly nod once, looking thoughtful for a moment before walking down the stairs towards the door, lazily waving her free hand in some gesture she didn't understand.

The Admiral stopped at the door when she didn't get whatever the gesture was supposed to signal, looking back up at her with a bit of amusement laid on her smile, "Come along Nanoha-chan, might as well drop off your companion to a bed as we wait on the coordinates to be set." She set off after Lindy after those words were said, the older woman moving again when she reached her and proceeding to lead them somewhere. They kept to a sedate pace with only the light taps of the Admiral's hammer giving life to the deserted hallways, oh, there was the dent in the wall, she'd gone this way before.

Roughly a minute into their 'journey', the speakers came alive and blared, a bit too loudly, a simple statement, " _Coordinates for the Garden of Time locked. All combat personnel report to the main teleporter. Mana expenditure high, expect heavy resistance._ " Well, that certainly made their calm journey a bit more rushed… though Lindy merely sped up to a fast walk rather than running, and Scrya-san stirred slightly with the loud noise.

After turning three corners, the Admiral opened a seemingly random door and ushered her inside… lots of bonsai trees… Regardless she went inside and laid Scrya-san on the only soft surface that she could see, a mat next to an umbrella that could seat maybe four people, before turning around to leave and follow Lindy to wherever they were going.

Another long, long walk through dim red-lit corridors, roughly seven or so minutes, and they reached a room that looked mostly the same as the corridors with no other entrances and a strange circle at the far end. The room was filled with men and women garbed in simple robes and breastplates with pauldrons and a neckguard, most of them holding a staff with a two-pronged gold head and blue orb, though there were a few wielding swords.

Lindy cleared her throat, not a loud sound but it made the entirety of the small army of... mages? turn and stand at attention to await whatever the woman was going to say. "Our mission is a simple one, we go in, seal a few Lost Logia and beat up whoever tries to stop us. That said expect whatever is there to be waiting on us, and at least three combatants to be above your level." Silence greeted those words, but the majority of them gained a determined glint in their eye… the rest of them had something strange instead… the only thing that came close was 'hunger'.

"Moving on, lethal force is allowed only if they fire something lethal first at one of you, otherwise you're allowed free reign of yourselves to get to your objective. Don't be stupid and get yourselves killed, retreat if things get too rough, and lastly have fun, we don't get to fight as often as we used to and it pays to stretch your legs every once in a while." A rumble of amusement passed through the crowd, before one last statement was given by a smiling Lindy. "We're leaving shortly, you'll get your assignment the moment we get there, as Allex said, expect this to be about as bad as the last Faurus incident."

Another salute and they made an aisle for their Admiral as she strode towards the circle, herself walking a bit behind with a hand on her blade's hilt. None of them batted an eye at seeing her, though a few looked… annoyed with her presence… maybe they'd been the ones she had gone through on her breakout? Regardless, it didn't matter as the moment she and Lindy reached the circle, it glowed bright blue and overpowered the rest of the weak lighting.

And then they were gone, to Fate's home.

* * *

They had only a short amount of time left before the Bureau and Nanoha arrived and they made the most of it.

Puppet Soldiers were moved around the Garden at Rinith's command, the Golems were moved to the stairwell leading up to the Reactor while Soldiers, Gargoyles and Berserkers were positioned in various room able to hold them. Traps and ambushes were made, mostly just from the Puppet Soldiers since Mother wanted all of them near her when she activated the eleven Jewel Seeds they'd gathered. She and Arf were still allowed to go out and fight anywhere from Mother's room to the gate, but nowhere else, which left Rinith's Golem and other puppets to take care of anything going after the Reactor.

She still wasn't in… good shape after fighting with Chrono and Nanoha, her mana was only a bit above a third of what it normally was and while she was better than the Enforcer had been, she still wasn't fine physically. So with those in mind, she opted to remain around the hallway to Mother's room, waiting for the intruders to come while Arf stalked the further corridors.

A beacon of mana went up outside, there were only a few things left she could do… a few isolated spells coupled with some delayed would work. She hurried to her work, needing to be done quickly so that she could still ambush as well, the battle was nearly upon them.

* * *

They arrived along a landing of sorts, pillars rising from the floor to hold up nothing, the 'sky' was a mixture of violet black and blue that hurt to look at, a massive door in the near distance, and several strange colored spheres dotting the floor and mountain… it didn't look much like a Garden. Lindy began walking towards the door as the last of the light surrounding them faded, herself moving quickly after while drawing her blade.

Aside from the rustling of metal, light thuds of feet falling and the 'loud' taps of the Admiral's Device, there wasn't any noise in this place… kind of like home, which was probably why she felt 'at peace' yet alert, just because it was like home didn't mean there weren't things set to kill them. Fire blossomed into being with a sudden roar, almost startling her with the sudden spell before Lindy was in front of the door and swinging. An explosion, smoke, wind and a door went flying in response, and their path was laid bare as a decently lit hallway lined with statues.

… It didn't feel right.

The smoke cleared fully after a few seconds and showed Lindy taking in the corridor, a light hiss sounding out as the hammer's pommel popped out about 25cm, showing metal littered with holes that sprayed white steam out for two seconds before slamming shut… That was a vent? That was very, very strange… though there was nothing she could do to put one in her weapon, at least she didn't think so.

They walked along the hallway at a sedate, cautious pace and she suddenly felt… 'dwarfed' by the sheer size of the statues, each of them were over three times her size at least, made of what looked like bronze or something colored like it, each with a shield and some form of weapon, though most common was a sword. None of them had any actual features etched into them, just massive suits of armor with weapons scaled to their size and capes that looked like actual cloth. And then there was the two statues that dwarfed even the other statues, roughly double in height than the others and holding axes as big as they were.

There was a trap here… there had to be, and yet nothing happened as they crossed the room and reached the next door. Regardless everyone was on edge by the time they reached the door, and once again Lindy blew it open with an explosion… that was a neat little spell, far easier than just using her 'steng-' _"Macht."_ Macht spell to bash thing open. … Wait, why did Razing Heart decide to name it that?

She thought for a moment before shrugging mentally when she received no answer and came up with too many options, it honestly didn't matter at all, she trusted Razing Heart's judgement, besides she was terrible with naming things. An idle thought crossed her mind about what the other spells she'd made were going to be named before it was tossed away as Lindy's form reappeared amidst the smoke, and then they were off again.

This time they entered a _massive_ circular room draped in green cloth, with numerous doorways leading every which way, though only their door and the opposite door had red carpet between the two… why was this place called a Garden again? What was strange about the room though was that winged suits of green-ish armor crouched on little parapets above the doors, polearms held in their hands ranging from simple spears to halberds, and below them, standing in the doorways, stood more of the regular suits of armor without their shields.

… If this wasn't a trap their opponents either had no idea how to defend places, or they were hiding traps behind other traps, she hoped for the former just so this was over with, she needed to get to school or she'd run out of sick days and cause Otou-sama trouble.

By the middle of the room the feeling of wrongness had consumed her, sending a glance around at the one of the many suits of armor every few steps until they reached the middle, and one of the 'Enforcers' shouted out a panicked "Incoming!" Immediately she turned and was greeted to a crash and plume of smoke erupting at the side of their group, there was the trap. Another crash and smoke cloud popped up, followed by three more before she understood what was causing them, several of the winged suits of armor had stood up on their perches and thrown their polearms at them, effective and unexpected.

Mana coursed through her as she let Macht and her 'spe-' _"Geschwindigkeit."_ … she was not pronouncing that yet… and 'endu-' _"Ausdauer."_ … Ausdauer spells manifest, Razing Heart didn't like her not having nameless spells it seemed, she'd have to ask what they meant later. A grinding noise caught her attention and made her look to her right, managing to see a grey blur pass centimeters from her head right before it went past her, one of her shi- _"Ablenkschutz."_ … could she at least finish before Razing Heart interrupted her? _"Nein."_

… Alright. Either way, she looked through the shield and saw one of the winged armors standing upon its perch before it decided to actually fly and try to dive-bomb her. That worked out poorly for it, seeing as it got hit by a flaming hammer and shattered into pieces, it felt strange having another person fighting with her that she, hopefully, didn't have to look out for backstabbing her. Time to make herself useful.

A platform was made and detonated to send her above the recovering Enforcers at one of the winged armors, barreling into the metal and throwing it off its planned flight. Both her and it flew over the Enforcers' heads and landed a couple dozen meters away with a screech of metal, she wasted no time and quickly recovered as the armor tried to push itself up, only to stop its attempt when she ripped off its helm.

A look to the side showed one of the polearms the armors had thrown, likely the one belonging to the now-'dead' armor, another shout amidst the spellfire and explosions from the direction of her allies made her look back towards them, only to find several of the non-winged 'statues' had decided to wake up and were slowly lumbering towards them while two of the winged armors still floated in the sky…

… She should probably roll away now.

Doing exactly that in the direction of the polearm, she escaped the massive claymore brought down directly on the 'dead' armor's body, her katana placed between her teeth as she placed her hands on the polearm and wrenched it out of the ground. Surprisingly, the thing was far lighter than she expected it to be, it weighted about the same as her katana did despite the massive difference in length, so either this was terrible quality or it was excellent. Whichever it was, she'd find out quickly enough.

She brought the spear back as the lumbering giant of armor pulled its blade up with the other suit still trapped on it. And with a step forward she threw the spear right at the thing's chest… and somehow missed the chest and impaled it through its dominant arm at the shoulder. That certainly worked as well. Her blade returned to its proper place in her hand as the armor jerkily tried to raise its weapon, she put it out of its misery with a single plat- _"Luftschritt."_ Luftschritt placed at her feet sending her to cleave its head in half.

Another Luftschritt was made directly afterwards, poised to send her back towards the group of Enforcers and Lindy until she got bashed in the head with a slab of metal… no make that a literal shield. … Wait, none of the ones here had any shields, which meant the ones in the hallway triggered after the ones in here, clever. She didn't get knocked away far, just a few meters back into the corpses until she hit the spear… the spear would probably be about as good as a tree in this situation, so she wrenched it out of the 'corpse' with one hand and threw it directly at the new armor.

It punctured through the thing's shield and became stuck, upon which the… there had to be a better name than suit of armor… thing threw its shield away and _charged_ her rather than lumber like the rest of its kind did. A roll towards it let her avoid the oversized sword striking the ground, finally letting her last augment, _"… Aufgeladene Klinge."_ … that was harder to say then the other one, manifest around her blade before she cut its legs out from under it. This time she looked around before making a Luftschritt, seeing that nothing else was moving towards her and only two of the landbound suits were still up.

The unused Luftschritt awaited her still, so she stepped upon it and let it do its job, detonating and sending her into the air before another sent her hurtling into the close of the two armors, smashing into its arm to stagger it before tearing off said arm and tossing it aside. It tried its best to whirl around and bash her with its shield, but simply being near her spelled its end as her katana passed through its empty helm and hit the red lights mimicking eyes, twisting and stabbing again and again until the armor fell forward and she leapt off.

The last of the armors exploded into fragments courtesy of the Admiral, and then they were left in a calm, deathly silence. "Status?" Lindy's voice was cold, weary and professional all at the same time as she strode back towards the group, her device clicking against the ground until the carpet was reached where she looked around at the group, several bandaging others up while the rest either were unmoving, leaning against their weaponry or in various bloody pieces.

One of the Enforcers, a woman with blue-violet hair and black eyes sporting a small gash across her chest and another along her arm, leaned against her stave as she answered, "Seven dead, three in critical condition, two of us without and injuries and the remaining twelve sporting minor wounds." … That was a lot of casualties from just the first trap… and these weren't difficult enemies to deal with, then again, she was augmented and they weren't so her position was innately better.

Lindy apparently didn't take well to that news, her face darkening as her smile fell, a mutter coming out that she barely caught before she was calmly thinking. "Puppet Soldiers, an Ace's toy set, a common soldier's worst nightmare." She heard a click of teeth before the woman looked upon her soldiers and addressed them. "Split into two groups, one group's taking the severely wounded out of here, the other group's after the Reactor. Spells get set to Lethal with no exceptions. If the second group hits anything moving that's bigger than one of the Soldiers, you run as if the Saint-king is about to drag you to hell. Are your orders clear?"

A resounding "Yes Ma'am!" echoed in the room, but by that point she was already wandering along the carpet towards the doorway, why should she care about their plans? She was only here to get the Jewel Seeds for Scrya-san and fight anything that got in her way, she didn't answer to Lindy nor did she have to follow her orders… so why bother waiting?

She heard clanking and rustling behind her, followed by a pause before Lindy's 'worried' voice echoed behind her "… Where did she go?" She wasn't going to answer that, not because she didn't trust her… though she didn't yet, seeing as this was the first time they'd fought together and she was still rightfully paranoid, but because that'd give away where she was, and another trap could be triggered.

Silence enveloped her in a gentle embrace, broken only by distant bangs from what she assumed was explosions or metal hitting metal, and after roughly two minutes she finally found something aside from carpet, torches and the odd door, a pair of Puppet Soldiers with swords drawn and ready barring her path. Something felt wrong again, so she did the smart thing and rolled to the side just as something near-silently crashed right where she'd been. Smoke obscured whatever it was from her, whether it was a person, another kind of Puppet Soldier or just a thrown weapon… so much for not triggering a trap.

She didn't wait for the cloud to clear, immediately charging the Puppet Soldiers first to get rid of them before whatever was in the cloud leapt at her, smashing into her body and sending it into the wall, and then she heard an annoyingly cheerful voice that was somewhat familiar. "Well lookie here, we have a little kiddo deciding she wants to try and take on my Master and Mother by herself. Guess I'll have to beat that idea out of her skull." Hello again Wolf-woman… this time isn't like the one before.

Prying herself from the wall with deliberate slowness, she fell back to the floor with grace and looked at Arf with a bored smile, an action that wiped the happy grin off her opponent's face and replaced it with a snarl, perfect. A side-step dodged the woman's fist trying to plant itself into her face and let her lash out with a kick, a light pulse of mana strengthening Macht before the blow landed, a light crack heard along with a gasp before she sent the woman away.

Immediately she hopped back to avoid the claymore of one Soldier, a Luftschritt manifesting under her and detonating to make the following sweep from the same sword pass harmlessly below her. Something pinged off her skin before she shot towards the armor's helm with aid from another platform, slamming into the metal with a crash and stumbling Soldier before she started pummeling the thing in its 'face' with a single hand. After the fifth hit it tumbled to the ground, another two punches made before she ended its suffering and stabbed it through the helm… and then she was hit presumably by Arf towards the second Soldier who hadn't moved yet.

Once again, she was bashed with an oversized shield, though this time the weapon carried her into the wall _again_ , a Luftschritt made and exploded above her making the sword miss impaling her as well as bringing her face to face with Arf again. Another pulse of mana preceded the woman's blow, meant to reinforce Ausdauer as much as possible before the blow connected, while she swung her blade in response. She ignored the light pain from her chest and continued her swing, cutting deeply across the wolf-woman's chest as she jumped away and swiftly fled… and then came the giant sword on top of her.

A Ablenkschutz slowed the blade down enough for her to step to the side, a cloud of dust covering her for a moment before her sword darted out, and a harsh wail echoed before the larger sword shattered just above the hilt. She heard the thing stumble back with the lack of weight, and immediately stooped down and picked up the still intact piece of metal, before hurling it at the Soldier's 'face', needless to say, it fell to the ground lifeless after that.

Well, that went far better than the last time they had fought… then again, the last time they fought was roughly three weeks ago, so she was bound to have improved enough to fight her… still to immediately leave on getting wounded was a bit strange. Maybe she was leaving to recover, or to set up another ambush, that made more sense so she'd go with one of the two. Either way she continued making her way down the absurdly _long_ hallway, ducking randomly the moment she heard a high whistling and letting a spear miss her completely… she couldn't even see the Puppet Soldier that threw that.

And then came a volley of the projectiles, thankfully deflected by a series of Ablenkschutz with the exception of one that she managed to catch, though the effort forced her back a few meters. A Luftschritt appeared under her the moment she stopped sliding, the caught halberd brought to her side before she sent herself into the air, and begin running along her platforms rather than the floor. Nobody should remember that she could do that seeing as the only time she used it with others around was against Fate the second time, and even then she made use of the explosions more often.

The halberd she'd 'borrowed' was brought up and twirled once to have it reversed before she threw it down the hallway in the direction she'd been going, continued to run even as she heard the screech of something being torn apart… she actually hit something. Eventually after another roughly two minutes she found the Soldiers that had attacked her, six winged ones standing around with a seventh on the ground with a leg lying meters away. Without their weapons, they lasted only two blows each, and didn't even try and defend themselves… that only made her confused.

Not even a half-minute later she found a door at the very end of the hallway, locked and barred with a giant set of doors… how did Arf manage to get past that without making a racket? Rattling chains drew her attention, a shield forming and immediately shattering as orange chains came from above amidst the shadowed ceiling, only one of the four biting into her shoulder before scraping off. Of course, that made more sens-

Something struck her in the back, and unlike most of what had hit her today, it hurt quite drastically and tore her skin open before sending her back down the hallway. "You should pay more attention to your surroundings kiddo, you can't just miss a ten-meter-tall Puppet standing in the corner!" Wolf-woman's voice was becoming annoying very quickly, very, very annoying. Picking herself up from the ground, she turned around and looked back at what decided to hit her… that thing was tall and much more rounded than the other Soldiers or winged-armors, huge, wielding an axe in both hands that was likely the same size it as, and having two 'eyes' in addition to the three red lights. … Apparently, she was either too durable, or it couldn't hit hard despite its size, since the axe's blades were bigger than her… she bet more on the former.

" _Meine Seraph ... Tanz in Asche._ _"_ She heard Razing Heart's words, and though she couldn't understand them as usual, she felt something help 'guide' her blade up and tug her mana towards Razing Heart, she allowed it. The wolf-woman was barely visible in the darkness above, some spell charging in her hands while the armor lumbered towards her at a leisurely gait, every step taken shaking the ground as it pulled its axe up. She waited as mana coursed through her blade, waited as Arf created a spear of orange light tinged with purple lightning before throwing it at her, waited as the axe started its descent.

And suddenly the 'guiding hand' was gone, Razing Heart intoning a simple " _Welle-Schrägstrich_." in her head as her blade fell and let a black-tinged, pink wave fly at the giant armor.

Metal screamed as it rent apart under the force of whatever Razing Heart had named this spell, the pink-black wave slowly splitting both the axe and the armor wielding it in two. A Ablenkschutz formed without her notice, a bit bigger than the ones she was used to but still quick enough to be formed before the wolf-woman's spell slammed into her. Her shield shattered on impact with the spell, but it proved enough to divert the orange lance far enough away that she wasn't hit by it or the following explosion.

She looked up at Arf as the armor clattered against the ground with a resounding crash and banging, idly watching the _still_ moving wave kept moving forward… that much mana reduced its speed drastically for power it would seem. Her attention returned just as the wolf-woman decided to start charging at her, a swift decision being made before she replied in kind with a simple detonation at her feet. They rammed into one another with all the subtlety of bulls, each holding their 'ground' for two seconds before the woman gave out when she pushed more mana into her augments and detonated another Luftschritt to keep her afloat.

She swung upwards with her blade, carving a thin line along Arf's chest before immediately ducking under a countering fist and lashing out with her own a moment later. The wolf-woman stumbled a step back, and her blade darted out eager for blood, stabbing once through Arf's shoulder before being treated to a blow to the face… strangely it didn't hurt too much. From there, it simply went downhill for the woman, catching three more slashes of her katana and two hits from her hands and feet while only dealing another single, easily shrugged-off hit to her chest.

That was when Lindy finally arrived with flaming hammer in hand and a ring of green fiery orbs surrounding her at the waist, leisurely walking along the carpet with said hammer resting on both shoulders while seemingly humming something. A look of both amusement and elation passed across her face the moment she looked up and saw them, her smile coming alive again as her hammer was returned to a 'proper' position, "Nanoha-chan! Don't go running off next time, you could have gone and hurt yourself!" … She was just going to ignore that, since the only thing so far that she'd had trouble with today was Fate, Chrono and Lindy herself… Arf wasn't providing much issue for some reason.

Speaking of the wolf-woman, she'd retreated again, though this time she fled up above into the darkness where even the pale light of mana failed to bring sight more than a meter away. She would be back, that was a certainty she felt in her aching bones and the wolf-woman would almost certainly be ambushing them whenever Fate fought them. She let herself drop back to the floor with a light thud, Lindy passing by her continuing to hum whatever it was, the fire coating her hammer flaring up in response to a random high note before the Admiral brought her hammer back and smashed it into the door.

Smoke spread from the impact point to cover the bent door and the Admiral, another resounding bang carrying along with more smoke before a sharp hiss played. Five seconds passed before the smoke and dust cleared enough for her to see the damage, a dent at the door's center made it possible to get through… but unlike the first door, this one managed to remain intact and still in place. Lindy just took it in stride, ducking down to get through the small opening while _still_ humming, after a few seconds of just standing still she shook her head slightly before following the Admiral.

She would never understand Lindy, but at least that woman made things amusing when she wasn't beating her up.

The next room was similar to the prior room they'd been in, with the sole exception of the cloth drapes being yellow instead of green, there were four more of the huge armors, already active and staring in their direction, while several of the winged ones perched on parapets and the regular soldiers faced them. In the middle of the small army of Puppet Soldiers, dwarfed by every single thing there, stood Fate with her usual blank look, eyes tinged with just a bit of 'resentment', and behind her a smaller, more ornate door.

"Quite the challenge we have, wouldn't you say Nanoha-chan?" Lindy's sudden comment made her pause, look over the arrayed forces before them, think clearly and shake her head in the span of three seconds. None of the Puppets were that difficult to deal with, at most they were annoying and only wasted time, with the only one managing to hurt her being the big ones so far, so that only left Fate. And Fate in this enclosed space meant a far easier fight for her, that was what she'd learned over the course of some half-a-dozen skirmishes.

She got a shrug in response for that, along with an amused "If you're so sure Nanoha-chan, go on and get her." ... Suddenly she felt less secure about her analysis of the situation, but she was still confident it wouldn't be bad enough to warrant Lindy's aid.

Without much thought, she sent herself soaring into the air to get a better look at her surroundings, watching idly as a spear rocketed at her before being deflected by a Ablenkschutz… they really should know better by now. She heard a sharp ping behind her, and turned her gaze in time to see a bolt of yellow streak past her, a bit more letting her see motes of pink dissolving in the air… it seemed like her shield did well in the hands of someone that knew what to do with a tiny shield. Her focus returned with another polearm trying to drill through her chest only to meet another of her shields.

She counted some twenty-four Soldiers, half that of the winged armors, and the four massive Giants surrounding Fate. Time to go to work.

Hopping off the platform, she started to plummet down towards the army of Soldiers… only to immediately catch her arm on something and nearly tear the limb off, leaving her looking up to see what had caught her in the _middle of the air_. … A yellow, sparking ring bound her forearm in place and refused to let go, she chose the easy option and wrenched her hand out of its grasp, shattering it in the process. And she fell again, only to set off another spell that caught her foot, that time though it shattered upon her trying to stop her momentum and simply left her out of control.

Finally, she managed to land, crashing through the helm and neck of a Soldier by complete accident, immediately getting up and lashing out with her blade to slice through another's knee, bringing the metal giant down close until a green flame plowed into its side and exploded the thing. She didn't bother with it at that point, ducking under its collapsing frame and running at the next suit, dodging its attempt at bashing her with a shield and proceeding to rip its leg off with simple brute force. An explosion sounded somewhere to her left, probably Lindy dealing with another Soldier or one of the Giants, she didn't bother thinking about it and instead tore off her current target's helm.

Lumbering steps shook the ground as she ducked under a flying spear, a step back avoiding the axe that likely wouldn't have split her in half, another step forward taken to grasp the axeblade before yanking it and its wielder down at her. Bolts pinged off her skin and shields, with the rare one managed to score a scorch mark and bruise her muscles, not that it bothered her at all as she thrust her blade into the black maw that stared at her. Wrenching it out, she immediately hopped back a few steps to avoid the winged armor crashing down where she'd been.

Her hand reached out and grasped a spear at her side, pulling it out of the stone and carpet before hurling it directly at the rising armor, nailing it directly in the chest and carrying the armor with the flying spear into a Soldier. Said Soldier bashed the flying 'corpse' aside with its shield before lumbering toward her, leveling its glaive at her before thrusting the weapon forward. She ran forward in response, a shield made for her sheared in half by the polearm as she stepped around the massive weapon, the ground behind her cracking as it received the bladed head before she severed the armor's leg from under it, a light hmm escaping her before she cut the rest of the Soldier in half.

Lightning sparked above her, she paid it no mind as she sidestepped a claymore and hurled her blade into the Soldier's 'face', immediately grasping the falling blade in her hands before swinging the massive weapon and tossing it at another of the Giants. She skipped over to her blade and wrenched it out of the Soldier's helm, a roar sounding overhead before she felt pain course through her entire body again for a brief two seconds.

Then it was over, and all she felt was numbness and heat, both of which she ignored in favor of hopping onto the shaft of a halberd and be taken on a ride to the now-injured Giant, leaping off the polearm and smashing into the metal. She punched until the armor bent, then proceeded to rip apart the armor piece by piece, tearing its hands off when it tried to pry her off before continuing until something clanged against the floor behind her.

She felt the same feeling as she had this morning envelop her for some reason, though… there was something missing from before though, or maybe something was different. Yes, something was different this time around, she wasn't getting hurt, she wasn't being strained to her limits even with Fate throwing lightning at her. This was something that simply made her more and more giddy with every suit of armor she 'killed', yet calming and made her simply want to dance and kill.

It felt _amazing_.

"Having fun Nanoha-chan?" She looked up and behind her when the voice called out next to her, giving a serene smile to Lindy as she stood up from the… 'carnage' that was the mess of a Giant. She looked around in the somehow 'peaceful' room, there was four armors guarding something with a shield wall while six winged ones staying above them, only two of which had their weapons for some reason. 'Surrounding' them were four more Soldiers with heavier weapons and a single Berserker, and strewn about every between them and those Puppet Soldiers was metal, emerald fire and the occasional intact weapon.

It would appear Lindy was just as busy as she was, and she'd been too focused on her own dancing to care. Which just left Fate and a bunch of metal really.

Lindy leaned back and stretched, walking around the heap of metal that once was trying to kill them, happily humming before stepping sideways for whatever reason. "You do realize delays don't work unless you or another mage are able to attack the moment it goes up, right? Especially when a A-rank mage is the intended target." She continued walking forward, and she quickly hopped out the carcass and went to join her, following Razing Heart's whisperings to guide her through whatever Lindy was avoiding.

"I will admit though…" The Admiral continued talking as if Fate was still here and was listening… then again, she could be behind the shield wall and listening to Lindy. "… you have a lot of skill to be casting isolated spells one after another." She didn't understand what the 'isolated spells' she was talking about were, Scrya-san would probably know so she'd ask him about it later... and the Admiral was still talking… "-ely for you, you had to deal with me and little Nanoha-chan."

No response came from Fate, not a verbal one or even one made of spellfire, which was strange given they were only ten meters from the shield wall, even the Soldiers didn't seem to respond for whatever reason. A low groan echoed from above, with both her and Lindy looking up in response before a pebble hit her in the face… it didn't hurt but it certainly didn't bode well for whatever was above them.

Then without warning, a giant rock crushed one of the outlying Soldiers, and it was raining boulders around them until a deafening crash sounded behind… them… That Puppet Soldier was huge… and even Lindy was stunned for a moment. "Great… they have a Golem… Anything else or is that everything?" Whoever was in charge of the Soldiers decided to acknowledge that question, by dropping _another_ one behind the shield wall. "… I should not have asked that." No, no she shouldn't have… well hopefully they'd be as easy as the rest to take down.

Both Golems were _huge,_ dwarfing the Giants by several meters at least and heavier as well given they cratered the ground upon landing, their armor made from something the color of copper, as well as having steel cannons for hands, with another set on their shoulders. Certainly, they were strange compared to the rest of the Puppets, being almost impractically tall and having no actual melee weapon to defend themselves with… but given Lindy's initial reaction, this would be a challenge.

How exciting, finally a challenge in this 'Garden' of Fate's… hopefully.

She didn't wait for either of the Golems to do whatever they were meant to do, creating a Luftschritt at her feet before detonating it at the one in front of the shield wall, continuing to listen to the whispers for guidance through whatever she was avoiding. And then she hit… something translucent surrounding the Golem roughly a meter away from it and bounced off, followed by her foot getting stuck in another yellow ring… wonderful. The ring held her for only two seconds, but it was enough for the Golem to back away three steps and lightning to scorch her back, her skin was charring... but she didn't feel anything.

A platform was waiting for her the moment she fell on her back, upon which she quickly got back to her feet and refocused on the Golem to find all four cannons pointed at her and glowing red… this may hurt? The Luftschritt she was standing on then proceeded to let her fall through it on its own just as the Golem fired, something neither her or the Golem was prepared for.

Thankfully for her a different platform caught her shortly after that, once again landing on her back as four beams of mana soared overhead towards the other Golem. All four crashed into a similar 'bubble' around the second Golem, though the force behind it apparently made the Puppet brace itself until all four beams dissipated. By that point, she knew what she was going to do to get through the Golem's 'bubble'… somewhat.

More bolts of mana pinged off of her skin as she stood back up, an explosion sounding somewhere behind her as Lindy set to 'killing' more of the Puppets again, and with a simple thought she leapt back at the massive suit of armor. She forced mana through her body to fuel Macht as well as sending a bit to Razing Heart to fuel another… " _Welle-Schrägstrich."_ … she'd need to tell Razing Heart thanks after this, it was only fair. The mana coating her katana proceeded to gain little black streaks in it for some reason in response to that, probably just something to do with Razing Heart being awake.

She loosed the spell without any more thought, watching as the crescent of mana slowly ground into the 'bubble' and caused the Golem to guard itself, now to apply more pressure. Another detonation and she slammed into the 'bubble' directly next to her spell shoulder-first, the Golem staggering in response to that, with another Luftschritt sending her away just as one of Fate's spells would have hit her again… why was just using the lightning spell?

Regardless of why, the spell pierced right through the 'bubble' hurtling directly at the Golem and hitting it directly in the chest… nearly 'killing' the armor in one hit… well the only hard part was getting past the 'bubble' then. Explosions sounded behind her amidst the tearing of metal, but she didn't pay attention to it, proceeding to ram the damaged part of the 'bubble' just as her spell gave out and ripped right through it. Only, the Golem decided its best action was the club her into the ground with its cannon… smart of it, though nothing but an annoyance.

She quickly got back to her feet and stepped out of the way of the second cannon slamming down, her hand reaching out and grasping the cannon and holding it as the Golem tried to pull back. She tried to let a little bit of the 'emotion' she'd felt earlier today seep into her expression, a futile action, but she felt it would have been perfect for the moment. … Surprisingly despite its size the Golem wasn't that strong compared to her… which was a disappointment really… and so she tore off its cannon with a simple tug and screech of metal and leapt at the thing like she'd done with the Berserker.

Rip and tear, rip and tear. Metal screaming, a lovely sound to her ears. Did anyone else enjoy the sound as much as she did? Probably not, other people preferred the chirping of birds and the breeze, still nice sounds, but not as lovely. She was hit in the head, it was still 'alive' and trying to get her off, no, no, no…

 _She wasn't done toying with it just yet_.

The cannon was torn off, then a leg before she returned to its chest, lightning seared her back and clambered along her skin… everything was charred and smelled strange, but she continued without paying any heed to it. Its head was left alone, as were the thing's heart, the cannons on its shoulders however were ripped apart for her delight and thrown aside when she bored of them, until something slammed into her back directly into the Puppet's 'heart'. Who would interrupt her fun, and sear her body further?

"Why the hell won't you die!" That sounded like Arf… she was ruining her fun… that wasn't very nice of her. She ignored the wolf-woman as she stood back up, instead moving to the Golem's head and ripping the thing off without a thought, before looking at the person who'd messed with her since she'd gone off on her own. Arf took a step back at seeing her, probably because of how much blackening her skin had gone through, before she looked around at the room around them, there were a lot less Puppet Soldiers, though the other Golem was still up and… never mind, Lindy took care of the last Gargoyle… why did she have fairy wings?

"It doesn't hurt. Why should I die if nothing hurts?" Words were said from her mouth, she wasn't even aware she even said anything for a moment before the words registered, they sounded right at least. Her blade clinked against the metal as she passed through the wreckage towards Arf, the woman gathering herself from her reply and quickly getting into a stance… did she think they were going to fight again? That was strange and silly, she'd already proven to be stronger twice now, why should she do it a third time?

She passed Arf without a single glance at her, light footsteps of her bare feet left unheard as the Golem fired its cannons at the Admiral with a deafening roar. They missed by a wide margin, seeing as Lindy was now darting around a bit faster than before… and then she got nailed in the back of her leg by the wolf-woman for some reason. Her smile slipped to something she hoped resembled boredom as she looked at Arf, whatever the woman was about to say being stopped with that, and then the ground shook without warning.

She stood her ground, as did the Golem surprisingly, though both Arf and Fate stumbled a step in the tremor's wake… what could shake a mountain-sized piece of rock floating in the middle of nowhere? That was probably important, but she pushed it aside for the more immediate threat of the Golem and kept moving towards it, her smile returning to its prior serenity before she sent herself sailing through the air at the Puppet. Apparently either Lindy had the same idea, or she saw what she was doing, since the woman decided to dart around another volley from Fate and the Golem and charge the latter.

More bolts pinged off her from behind… wolf-woman was annoying her, followed by a single cannon switching to point at her before firing. She avoided that rather easily by making a platform beneath her and detonating it, lifting her enough to only be grazed by the red beam before she resumed her quick journey. Lindy made it to the Golem first unsurprisingly, slamming her hammer into the 'bubble' to the its detriment, cracking the thing where she hit it and making the thing cower and brace.

Then she arrived a few moments later as Lindy pulled back, slamming into the weakened 'bubble' and making the massive armor stumble a step back for some reason before she was struck with lightning _again_ … why was Fate using a spell that didn't even work? A moment was taken to look at her skin, blackened and lightly glowing… that was rather pretty. She shook her head of that thought as the Admiral hurtled past her amidst a sound similar to breaking glass, only a bit deeper, hammer brought back behind her before she smashed it directly into the Golem's chest.

A single moment of silence echoed through the room before metal screeched in response, another explosion among many sounding out alongside ripping metal and cackling flames licking the rent pieces of armor. The Golem stumbled and fell, crashing against the side of the room and slowly sliding down amidst a shower of rubble, both Fate and Lindy retreating to avoid the rocks.

Herself… she disregarded the rubble and shot herself straight at the giant armor flailing in its death throes, it was still 'alive' even being pelted by rocks and cloth so she went to finish the job. Nothing went and pinged off her skin or struck her with lightning, something she was quite happy about since they didn't do anything to her, and after a short-lived flight she crashed into the Golem's neck. A light hum escaped her throat as a boulder fell at her side, almost crushing the armor's leg before ultimately bouncing off.

Rip and _tear_. It jerked with every piece she tore off, trying to dislodge her… but unfortunately for it, cannons weren't meant to be used to grab things. Then without warning it ceased its struggles… it was probably playing dead, she hadn't ripped off its helm or whatever was inside so it shouldn't be lifeless just yet…

Another tremor wracked the mountain and something light hit her on the head… whatever was rocking the mountain was making it unstable, finding out what was causing the quakes took priority now rather than ripping a corpse apart. A low creak sounded out sharply through the room, her head immediately snapping to the only actual door in the room before making a Luftschritt and sending herself flying towards it.

It was opening, metal groaning as if this door hadn't been used in a long time, before light shined and illuminated two figures walking out the door. The one behind the first was a woman with brown hair and eyes, dressed in something that slightly resembled a brown and white nun's outfit and wielding a simple rod with a gold-colored head. The other woman… she had black hair and violet eyes and was wearing a simple violet dress that pooled at her feet and a black cape that covered her back and left arm, her other hand held a strange stave with an eye at its head, purple mana crackling in front of it, leveled directly at her… and eleven Jewel Seeds glittering in the air around her.

… And unlike the other woman whose face was neutral, if a bit hard, her face was set into a near-rage, eyes alight in hatred as time seemed to slow for a moment, and a low hate-filled whisper. "Come to our Garden and destroy our protectors? Come take our hope away and leave us without a chance to save our beloved Alicia? Try and kill my daughters, who took this path only to bring their sister back and would gladly lay their weapons to rest when we succeeded? _You are not welcome here Monster,_ _ **begone from our home and die**_."

" _Plasma Smasher_." With two mechanical, hate-filled words her vision saw nothing but violet tinged with yellow and her body was forced away from the door.

Pain. Pain. _Pain_. All she felt within that beam of violet was sharp, nerve-burning _pain_ , up until she first tripped on something and was suddenly flying and then slammed into something back-first, before the beam finally stopped and allowed her to drop.

… She heard something break on landing, everything inside was burning and hurt, someone called her name… Her pain began subsiding in time with the voice laced with concern, and bones began cracking again along with other things seemingly 'fixing' themselves in response, her hands twitched minutely before her blade tapped against the floor and helped her up. Stiff bones cracked as she moved her joints, a slow few seconds passing before she was up and looking back at her foes and ally… why were Arf and Fate staring at her like that?

" _Die Zahl ist auf zweiundsiebzig eingestellt. Man wird subtrahiert, die nummer ist auf einundsiebzig gesetzt._ " Razing Heart said something new the moment she was fully up, she'd have to ask what that meant later, she was rather curious and she felt that it was important if Razing Heart decided to say it for the world to hear.

The woman didn't do anything else aside from walking silently towards Fate and Arf, a gentle, loving smile in place as she knelt down beside Fate and lightly brushed her hand against the girl's head. "It's nearly time Fate. For our trip to the land of salvation." The Jewels surrounding the woman glittered and shone with delight for some reason in response to that, and Fate finally had genuine smile cross her face for the first time since they'd beaten Chrono when she heard that. "… The journey though is too dangerous for you, Arf and Rinith, and what mother would I be if I led my children to their death?"

Fate's smile slowly sank and her face marred itself with confusion at the words… not that she understood any of what that actually meant. "So, I'll be going alone with Alicia, and we'll find our way home." The confusion Fate felt was slowly turning to shock, and tears were brimming in her eyes, similar to what Arf looked like now, and their mother continued with that same gentle smile that her Okaa-sama used to have. "So be a good girl, and wait for us. And when we get back we'll make flower circlets with Alicia again, Arf'll be a big teddy bear for you and Alicia and Rinith will mother all three of you into the ground."

Fate's mother leaned forward and lightly kissed her daughter's forehead before standing up and backing away from her, a coughing fit racking the woman's body for a few seconds before it subsided and she turned back the way she came. Light tapping echoed around the silent room, then footsteps and mana forming sounded as Lindy tried and failed to stop the woman from leaving, courtesy of the nun-looking woman.

The woman kept speaking as she climbed he few steps to the door, the Jewels around her shining now and the ground shaking underneath her, "If I don't come back… cherish the memories we had, me and Alicia will be waiting for you. Now… goodbye my precious little Fate. Get out of here with your sister and mother before our Garden is ripped apart."

Another tremor shook the place and she stumbled along with Arf and Fate, the door closing behind the woman just as a piece of masonry fell and smashed right in front of the door, barring entry even if they had wanted to follow. Lindy took a single moment to think before she turned and calmly planted her Device into the ground, kneeling before a magic circle manifested underneath her and the tremors calmed slightly.

Then she spoke out loud, to who she had no idea, but likely to the bridge crew rather than her and Fate's family, "I need an evacuation for five people now! We have a massive dimensional tremor in-bound, have the _Arthra_ ready to drop out of transit the moment we're on board!" She must have heard a reply since she gave a nod before continuing whatever she was doing.

A tense silence engulfed them and their once-foes, broken only by the slamming of rocks into the ground as the structure slowly tore itself apart… the light was slowly turning dark and strange with 'spots' dotting the walls… those hurt to look at. Slowly but surely she made her way closer to Lindy, something far harder to do for her than for Fate and her family, since she was on the other side of the room and debris was piling up. And seemingly to add on to that the floor decided to give way just as she decided to hop onto a piece of rock, with more of the 'spots' appearing underneath.

"Nanoha! Get over here now!" Lindy was shouting at her… she was making her way over there the safe way… then again, the place was tearing-

A rock hit her in the head to prove that point, followed by a boulder crashing down right in front of her… caution to the wind it was, or however that saying went. Quickly she jumped from debris pile to debris pile, the whispering coming back to guide her for some reason and leading her a ways before a chime silenced them… why was Razing Heart strange like that? She stepped around another newly made hole leading into something that was probably not good for her health.

After another half-minute of clambering over debris, dodging 'spots' popping up underneath her and standing her ground against _heavier_ tremors, she reached the edge of Lindy's circle, the thing cracked with the effort of whatever the Admiral was using. And the moment she stepped foot on the magic circle… a bad idea in hindsight, it shattered into pieces, with Lindy immediately standing back up and her wings dissipating.

Fate and Arf were beside the Admiral, both of them staring at the massive boulder barring the way to the door their mother had gone into, while the other woman had kept the two together and guided them over to Lindy. A fissure quickly snaked its way between her and the rest of those still in the room, something easily crossed before it split wider and showed the thing that hurt to look at. Finally, the moment she reached three meters from Lindy, light gathered and covered her vision before she felt herself dissolve again.

* * *

By the time her vision returned to normal and she saw the room with the magic circle at one end, the Admiral was already half-way to the end before she stopped and looked back, pointing at Fate, Arf and Fate's other mother. "You three, either follow me, follow Nanoha or stay here. I may be lenient but I have places to be, you all are technically criminals and things are hectic." And with that Lindy turned back and marched out of the room… why did she trust her with Fate's family?

Meh, she wouldn't understand why Lindy did the things she did, so there was no point in questioning the things she said. Besides that, given the state both Fate and Arf appeared to be in and the events they'd just went through, she doubted they would even follow her. … She wasn't good with comforting others and the new woman seemed to be doing a good enough job that Fate and Arf would be functioning sometime soon, so she just left them quietly in the care of a few battered Enforcers.

A tremor rocked the steel ground under her just as she entered the hallway, surprising and throwing her into the wall... whatever was causing that _definitely_ was far more important to know about later down the line if it hit whatever the ' _Arthra_ ' was. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to do anything here, as annoying as it was all she knew how to do as fight, kill and break things, so once she straightened herself out she continued walking towards the only place where she'd be of use, the bonsai room where Scrya-san would be.

Her walk through the halls was leisurely despite the constant aggressive tremors that hounded after them, mostly done that way so that her feet were braced in case any tremor wanted to unbalance her, and barely lasted five minutes before she was outside what she hoped was the room. She turned out to be wrong, and quickly shut the door again… she probably should have remembered the path from there so she didn't walk in on other people sleeping.

Amidst two more tremors she continued searching, checking door after door, most filled with empty bedrooms with the occasional filled one or an entirely strange room, before finally finding the Bonsai room. Surprisingly, _every_ single bonsai was still intact and on its shelf despite the tremors _and_ Scrya-san was still sleeping… though to be fair, she was only gone for an hour, maybe two at the most, and he hadn't slept in a while. Well, at least he'd be well-rested when he woke up, he'd probably need it by the time they were told what was happening.

Until then though, she probably needed a light rest as well, today had been tiring and very fast-paced, so with that thought she settled herself down beside Scrya-san and waited with her eternal smile.

* * *

 _AN: For the reason as to why Nanoha barely felt anything despite all the damage hitting her, her Nociceptors (pain receptors) got fried by repeated lightning and over-usage of her augments, which in turn made her incapable of feeling most 'minor' forms of pain, on top of being durable to begin with. For her behavior in the later parts being as… 'wild' as it was, lingering effects of the Seraph and her own restraints still being somewhat loose was the main reason, she should get better... provided nothing else goes wrong._

 _As for the Puppet Soldiers, their size is estimated solely on how they compared to the characters in the anime, as well as changing a few things so that they are more… 'realistic' and are able get around with more ease.  
The ranking of how they stand up in Mid-Childan ranking are the regular soldiers, those that look like actual armor, are B-rank along with the smaller winged armors that throw polearms, the bigger ones with axes are at a barely A-rank, with the massive cannon-golems being AA-rank, though that's only due to the barrier and bombardment spells, without the barrier they're only an A-rank._


	11. Conception XI

_Amount of hugs needed: 8840_

 _Amount of hugs found: 3,876_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

She'd only nodded off for a brief few minutes before Scrya-san's yawn brought her back to consciousness. At around the fourth minute of her silent vigil she'd been lulled to drifting and letting her Jacket fall apart finally, the tremors having stopped a minute after she'd arrived and settled down and no longer bothering her.

Anyway, she was fully awake and standing up with a gentle smile as Scrya-san groggily got up, rubbing sleep from his eyes before yawning again and finally focusing on her. "Good… afternoon I believe, Scrya-san. Did you have a nice nap?"

"Nano-haaa…?" Her employer gave a large yawn that he tried to stifle unsuccessfully, before turning to look at her sleepily, blinking twice before continuing with another yawn, "Good afternoon… Where are we, Nanoha?" Hmm, either Scrya-san was not fully awake yet, which was very likely given how he had looked when they'd seen one another after her being captured, or he didn't remember what had happened for… at least since the morning began.

She let a happy little smile twist its way onto her face as she closed her eyes, she was sure Onee-sama would have said something about him being 'cute and adorable' after seeing Scrya-san wake up. Either way she opened her eyes shortly after, slowly raised herself from her seat on the floor and gave the answer to Scrya-san's question. "We're on the… _Arthra_ I think Lindy-san called it. You made a deal with her where we'd work together to get the remaining Jewel Seeds, and shortly after passed out once we were on the ship. You've been sleeping for a few hours I think."

Scrya-san blinked twice before sighing dejectedly… why he did so before she told him that they'd failed to retrieve those Jewel Seeds, she had no idea, but either way she just waited for him to respond to her answer, absent-mindedly bobbing her head as she waited. After a few seconds her employer gathered himself again with a breath and looked back at her, his gaze was surprisingly quite weary despite also turning worried, though after the past few days she could understand. "The Jewel Seeds? Did you get them all?"

"… No." She took her time to answer his question… she wasn't proud that she had failed to get the last of them, and _couldn't_ get them for the foreseeable future, but she had to at least let Scrya-san know that they were unobtainable now. "A woman helping Fate, or the other way around, took the Jewel Seeds and used them. The place we were fighting started collapsing shortly after."

Another dejected sigh left his lips and she lowered her head in shame… she was supposed to collect all the Jewel Seeds for him, that had been the contract… and while she was still bound to collect them, she'd failed to retrieve them… and there was no telling _if_ those Jewels would come back. She'd failed… Takamachi never failed a job… did that mean she wasn't fit to be a Takamachi, or since the job wasn't done was she bound to wait until those Jewels were collected before her job for Scrya-san was done?

"Well… it can't be helped." Scrya-san's voice pulled her out of her brooding, making her focus back onto him as he stood to his full, non-imposing height and gave a tired smile, "You did your best, and despite losing eleven of the twenty-one, the other ten are in safe hands." … But she didn't get them and deliver all twenty-one to him… which meant she failed… "And despite the other Jewel Seeds being lost, they won't be used ever again, which is what I wanted anyway. So Nanoha…" So… she did her job correctly, and completed it? She didn't fail, but she still wanted to get the last eleven to Scrya-san… she'd make a promise then to try and get the others back later.

She blinked once and focused back on Scrya-san, the boy looking at her worriedly while leaning directly into her face… did he see something wrong with her? "Are you alri-"

Without any warning whatsoever, the door to the room hissed open, startling Scrya-san into jumping away from her into a standing position, and let an exhausted-looking Lindy enter the room… It had only been… less than a half-hour since she had rushed off to wherever she needed to be, and already she looked a bit older. The moment the Admiral saw the both of them awake, not seeming to register Scrya-san's strangely colored face, she said a single sentence.

"Well… I have good news and bad news, which do you want first?"

Both her and Scrya-san looked at Lindy for a moment, then she turned to look at her employer as Lindy did the same, thankfully he was back to a normal color or the Admiral would look at him strangely. For a few more seconds he looked lost in thought before taking notice of both her and their… 'host' looking at him, eventually leading to him almost stuttering out a "Uhh… Bad news?", which Lindy-san wasted no time in moving onto… she must be stressed if she wasn't bantering or teasing, she seemed to enjoy that.

"Alright, bad news, we're stuck above the planet we were on a few hours ago, the lanes are down so we have no way to travel or send a message to the Bureau. We have no idea when those lanes are coming back up, or even if the damage is just limited to this world." Despite the words being said in a jovial tone and a smile, even she could tell Lindy was just putting on an act considering what it was she was saying.

"Moving on… the ship's been damaged in several areas during our brush with dimensional collapse, most notably the engines are burned out and there's a hole to space on the underside. Which basically amounts to this ship isn't going anywhere anyway… probably for the rest of its life." With that she paused for a moment, took a deep breath in and out in a slightly exaggerated manner before straightening and putting an actual smile on her face.

"Good news now, the hole was in one of the areas that held absolutely nothing thanks to us being a mothballed ship. And aside from the casualties at the Garden we lost no one else, and there's enough supplies to last us a year if we ration."

"That said though… we have two people near-dead and zero supplies to actually treat them beyond making them stable, as well as three… 'prisoners', so we're officially screwed in that regard." Lindy took a moment to sigh before looking over at the two of them, Scrya-san tensing for a moment before calming down… he really needed to do better talking with other people. "I don't suppose either of you have a place we could stay."

The Admiral had a light smile on her face when she said that, probably just 'joking' like she'd seen Onee-sama do at one point in the past… though Scrya-san looked directly at her after the words registered… The property she lived on did have several buildings on it, even if it wasn't the main compound her branch _had_ inhabited, it still had enough space to accommodate half the branch as well as guests back before she was born. … They could come to an agreement perhaps. "There's enough room at my home for your crew."

For a brief moment surprise worked its way onto Lindy's face before she reigned it in and smiled again pleasantly, a cheerful voice playing happily as she replied to her words. "Unless you have enough space for some fort-sixty people, I-" She cut off that forming sentence with a bluntly stated fact that Lindy wouldn't have known, delivered just as cheerfully as Lindy had been using.

"There are a total of nine buildings on the property, three dojos and five residential areas and a building for receiving visitors, we only use three of the buildings now." Lindy's face froze for a moment in its pleasant state before morphing into something between surprise, suspicion and relief… a strange three to have all at once.

The response to her statement was expected though, given that she was essentially telling Lindy that there was room at her home, and was offering to house her and her crew, "I suppose you would want something in payment for allowing us to stay with you?" A light nod was her first response, followed by a few moments of silence to think up the 'value' of what she was giving and then what she wanted to ask.

Finally, after nearly a half-minute of silently looking at Lindy she gave her offer, satisfied that it was even enough for both sides. "In return for shelter and food for you and your crew until the 'lanes' are back up, teach me how to make mana to explode."

"How about a compromise, Nanoha-chan?" She blinked once before tilting her head to the side, she didn't see anything particularly wrong with the terms she gave, if anything she was probably giving them too much in return for learning how to do one kind of spell. "Me, my crew and our 'detainees' get a place to rest and recuperate, as well you take me and Chrono to see the Cherry Blossoms fall. I read they're quite beautiful to watch fall, and I'd like to see them in person. In return, I'll train, spar and teach you a few spells instead of just making exploding mana. Is that to your liking, Takamachi Nanoha?"

Those were agreeable terms, if a bit skewed towards favoring her now, and the base agreement was there, so with a happy smile she nodded her head and a contract was struck between them with a simple 'arm grip'.

* * *

Life at home became… very lively in comparison to before, though to be fair, there were some forty to sixty people living on clan grounds now compared to the four before the incident started. It wasn't a bad thing necessarily, a bit jarring since she'd only been around five people at home at the most for the majority of her life, but not bad. Thankfully for her, most of their guests or 'family friends' were put together in the other two homes on clan grounds rather than her house, otherwise she'd be a lot more uncomfortable.

The only ones that actually shared her house were Lindy-san and Chrono-san, excluding Scrya-san since he'd already been here prior, with the rest spread out amongst the two other homes. Once, this place had nearly a hundred people living on it, but that was a time before she was alive to see it, before the incident that killed seven branches. Still that simple fact provided their home _lots_ of space and several buildings that were kept in good condition, which was quite... convenient given the circumstance.

… Otou-sama had been strangely passive about her simply arriving with the crew of the _Arthra_ and asking if they could stay until their way home was fixed, taking it in stride with a sigh before simply going around and unlocking three of the buildings on their property. She'd had to explain a bit later _why_ they couldn't go home… which had led to her telling Otou-sama about magic and what little she knew of the places outside. Naturally, he wasn't enthused about learning what she'd been hiding that from him, but that had passed quickly, Otou-sama wouldn't let something that trivial bother him for long, he had lots of things to do and more had been added with the unexpected guests.

Onee-sama was quick to welcome them, getting the _Arthra's_ crew settled down and 'comfortable'… there wasn't much that could make the buildings more 'homey', the Takamachi clan as a whole weren't a family that cared for material wealth, they needed a bed, food, drink and a roof and they were content. So they lacked _a lot_ of the items that made things lively in a building, and really had only the bare necessities… but that should be better than staying on the _Arthra_ , for the simple reason of being on a planet.

Anyway, Onee-sama welcomed them, provided them with what little comforts they had available and shortly after began preparing a meal with Onii-sama aiding her, at least on this first night, they had to be good hosts. Onii-sama was passive as well… he barely reacted to any of what was going on beside an initial burst of surprise and relief at the sight of them and her respectively… he wasn't normally like that. Usually he'd have narrowed his eyes and kept an eye on the company either she or Onee-sama brought home, that or at the very least, subtly threaten anyone not to cause any trouble, maybe it was the condition some of them were in.

Aside from that… nothing really happened aside from she returned to school, was immediately tackled by a very overjoyed Arisa-chan upon arriving there, which followed into Suzuka-chan happily hugging her… she'd made them very worried apparently. After that she'd been subjected to… 'attention' from her peers, rather than the ignoring she'd been subjected to for so long, that made her uncomfortable, but it wasn't anything that was particularly difficult to ignore. And finally, after the day was done, Suzuka had invited her to another tea party she was holding the day after school ended, an invitation she graciously accepted.

The only 'bad' thing to come of her 'extended medical leave' was school was almost at its end, with only two more school days to attend, with a few tests at some point during those two days. She finished every piece of work she missed easily, with the two exceptions being obviously difficult, and her grades were either near-perfect or passing, which suited her.

The sound of feet falling on wood reached her ears, tearing her from her thoughts and bringing her back to lucidity… huh, she was still sweeping, she should probably finish before Otou-sama found her… and there went the footfalls… it was probably Onee-sama or Chrono-san. Nothing to be bothered by.

* * *

Tinkering, one of the few passions he had that hadn't resulted from his mother, and he wasn't able to properly do it for now. …His family was… crazier than most people, his mother was a tea addict, his father apparently had taken chivalry and knighthood to an extreme, and he loved to mess with machinery and electronics, make and improve anything he could get his hands on… And because of a simple action he no longer could properly do as he wished with metal and circuits, and with the lane out there was no way to get a mass-produced one.

So making himself an arm was the only way that would let him tinker properly again, amongst other things, so for one time, he put aside the passionate part of him and settled straight into making a basic thing rather than the ornate limb he envisioned. The feeling of cold metal and tools in hand was soothing, the whir and buzz of machinery a symphony he knew inside and out, he locked them and his joy away and forced himself to forget them for now. Thankfully he'd be able to use the design he'd thought up later on after this one was made and he had the proper materials, but for right now he just needed a simple hand and arm.

Unfortunately due to his missing limb, he wasn't able to mold the metal into the desired shape or even hold it in order to put the 'volatile' parts in… which he got around by asking for help from one of the few people that he felt confident wouldn't accidentally screw up. A slightly older man named Landy… which was a bit confusing since his mother's name was Lindy but it wasn't much of an issue.

"Keep it steady, don't drop it. And whatever you do, _don't_ let it touch your skin or mine." The red-white metal Landy was holding with tongs would sear anything it touched that wasn't properly insulated, not even counting what would happen once the part he was holding was fitted in.

"Sir if I may ask, _why_ are you putting a _reactor_ into the arm?"

… Why shouldn't he? "I have a low mana capacity, only about… 15% more than the average." Yea… the only reason he was able to go toe-to-toe with his mother and the two other girls despite that massive gap in mana was because of a simple, rather… dumb thing. "If I want to use that prosthetic in combat, no matter how unlikely it is that I have to fight with this one, I need another source to properly supply it with mana so my own can be used for spells."

"Wait! You plan on making a _second_ one of these!?" … Yes… this was the only thing about working with someone else that he actually hated, especially since they weren't used to his own brand of 'eccentricity'. After fifteen years of being raised by his mother, and being descended from the Admiral who styled himself a knight, as well as the Admiral who made a teacup into a hammer, was it any wonder that he had something in line with their 'issues'?

Gently, he started to maneuver the little battery into the mass of cooling metal, directly to the little slot he'd left for it. He'd be able to hook everything up to it later on his own, but this thing had to go in during this part so it would bond properly to the heat sink/vent rather than have it loose and run the risk of it overheating and blowing up. "Of course I am, this one's only meant to be used off-duty, the second one's going to be for combat and have a bigger reactor in it than this little thing."

Landy looked like he was about to gape in disbelief, which would likely jostle the metal a bit, so he immediately barked out, "Focus!" and continued on with his work, remaining still with the battery as the red metal moved slightly in response. Haa… this was why he preferred working alone, less room for human error when he was tinkering.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes turned to a half-hour before he sent Landy away, his task done the moment the metal was placed inside a quenching tank and allowed to cool. Considering the risk of explosion, melting and occasional accidental EMP his tinkering had, they'd brought down what little of the equipment he needed they had on board down and placed in a building that vaguely looked like a workshop. … Well, it probably would be a decent one if the walls weren't flimsy and the floor wooden, which he'd been _extremely_ careful to avoid getting anything flammable near.

The forge was outside and still burning, a small thing barely able to make the heat necessary to shape metal, but given where it was supposed to be used, it was the best thing they had. Along with the forge was a metal table, roughly a meter and half long and a third of that length wide, once again, the best thing they had on hand, where the arm would be laid out after it was done with the quenching process. Shouldn't be long now…

An hour turned quietly, and a few more minutes were spent simply waiting for the piece to finish before he picked his way over to the tank, grabbing a pair of tongs as he passed the table and firmly grabbing the metal once he got there. Carefully he laid the inner workings of what would be his new arm back into the furnace, and stepped back to let it temper… now he waited for the metal to finish its last stage of the process before he could move to the next piece. Well, he could at least start on the second layer while he was waiting.

Now then… where did the crew put the rest of the smaller pieces of spare metal? Going back inside the building, he started searching amidst the myriad items and furniture for the needed parts for the next layer. His mind drifted as he looked, something he was fine with doing since he didn't need his full attention at the moment, and it inevitably settled on his hosts and everything that had gone wrong since they had arrived.

Nanoha and her family had been kind to them when they showed up unannounced, giving them a place to stay, recuperate and repair after… whatever was the proper way to explain the incident that had happened. He'd been beaten by a girl nearly half his age simply because she could take _everything_ he could throw at her, and then beaten by another that was apparently his age soundlessly due to her having ungodly amounts of mana and bombardment spells. Then of course everything went to hell the one time he wasn't there, with a dimensional tremor ripping apart the lanes from this world to every other one, and likely several other worlds as well.

Which put them in a major predicament since they had no idea _when_ those lanes would stabilize enough that they'd even get a message out the Mid-Childa to let them know that they weren't defecting to the secessionists and they were just MIA for a short time, let alone actually leave. Well… they weren't _really_ secessionists, they hadn't joined the Bureau before the fighting had started.

Discounting those though… no, the time between then and now had just been terrible, especially with him losing his arm and half of the enforcers dead… Regardless, now that it was over they could finally have something of a break and 'relax' for a while, even if it was a break they wouldn't have necessarily wanted.

Haa… What he'd give, to have lived in a place where there was peace and there weren't burial services every few days for some group of soldiers or enforcers. Perhaps… no, that dream was too beautiful to ever be real, even if there was a way to get to that peaceful place that simple dream of his would never be real.

"Uh… Hello?" He jolted back from his reverie at the sound of a girl's voice, the one that helped the-

A bang echoed throughout the room, followed by his groan of pain as he slowly stood up, hand cradling his head as quick steps were made towards him from the entrance. Miyuki was her name if he was remembering correctly.

Brown hair done in a braided ponytail with a yellow bow, glasses set over pale green eyes, and a milky blue kimono, met his blurry gaze as he focused, it was Nanoha's sister alright. "Would you mind telling me why there's stuff in and around _my_ dojo?" … Not a single apology for causing him to hit his head, or even a helping hand to get him out from under the table, he could vaguely see a resemblance between her and her sister now.

At least she wasn't as creepy as Nanoha was… always smiling was creepy, and the one time she wasn't she looked like a doll with wings, blank and 'unliving'. Anyways… he may as well answer her question. "It was the only place far enough away that an explosion wouldn't do any damage, as well as the only place I could work in peace." He got only silence as he backed out from under the table he found himself under… he hadn't even found the metal he was looking for in the middle of all his thinking.

"So you just stuff dangerous equipment in a seemingly remote, unused building, without even asking the owners if said building is being used? Haa… I just wanted to relax after the last few days…" He refrained from giving an answer when she let out a sigh, in their defense, this was the _only_ place they could put them on short notice. Aside from that, he had been planning on asking Mr. Takamachi after he was finished for the day if some temporary structure could be made, or some room converted to be used as a workshop.

… Where were the damn metal strips stored!

His focus returned when sudden clanging, screeching and rattling of something startled him again, his gaze shooting up to see Miyuki manhandling a table laden with supplies across the floor on her own towards the outside… he… he wasn't expecting her to do that. Faintly he could hear her muttering under her breath, which he wisely tuned out as he got to his feet and continued to rummage around looking for the metal plates. And with that they lapsed into a… comfortable 'silence', if one could call it that with Miyuki hauling equipment outside.

After probably five to seven minutes the sound of stuff moving ceased, and he _still_ hadn't found the pile of metal, something that was beginning to gradually annoy him greatly considering there were literally no places left to look. Haa… no use getting frustrated with it when he still had to wait on the forge to be done with the tempering process, still he would have liked to have started the second layer before the first was done... "So you're a blacksmith then, Harlaown-san?"

Miyuki's question came without an warning, given that she'd been silent except for the initial questioning, and prompted a jump from him in response, which elicited a light round of giggling from the girl. Quickly regaining as much composure as he could from that embarrassing move, he answered his host with the phrase he always used when someone asked that, "I prefer the term 'tinkerer' rather than blacksmith." She gave a hum, what for he had no idea seeing as she was looking at the forge rather than him, so he couldn't see her expression, before he decided to continue to address the next likely question before it was uttered. "I'm just making myself a prosthetic for my left forearm."

"I see." … She sounded _very_ disinterested in what he was making… a first outside of everyone but his mother and a welcome change considering that everyone else usually looked at him strangely or thought he was crazy… the last one was probably justified. Either way looking her way had reminded him to look over the first layer, it shouldn't be near time yet to pull it out, but it was better to at least look over it than just ignore it.

He passed by Miyuki without a single reaction from her… something that in hindsight was unsettling given that she was _still staring_ at the forge, or more specifically the fire, "Fire's a strange entity, creating as much as it destroys." … That line managed to get him to look at her directly for the first time since they arrived, and what he saw was… strange. She had a smile on her face like her younger sister, far smaller yet genuine and gentle, with the only difference in expression between her and Nanoha being her eyes, vacant and seemingly staring at something he couldn't see. Scratch not being as creepy as Nanoha then.

Given he had no understanding of what was going on or how to react to that statement, he proceeded to turn around and…

… those idiots.

"WHO THE HELL PUT THE METAL PILE NEXT TO THE DAMN FORGE!"

* * *

"Your boy should show some consideration before he yells."

"Haa… true. He's normally much better unless he's working on some project of his."

Such was the conversation between both Lindy and Shiro that neither were even remotely bothered when Chrono randomly yelled out something about metal and a forge, nor where they bothered when he just as suddenly stopped as if something silenced him. None of what they were speaking of had any significant meaning, more they were just passing the time as they watched Nanoha taking her sword to a poor, helpless training dummy. It wasn't like either had any place to be given the time being late in the evening, and silence didn't suit tea-drinking with others.

"Oh? And what kind of 'project' would your son be doing this late in the evening with a single arm."

Calmly she gave a shrug before returning to her cup, taking a sip to savor the newest combination Bob had made for her before putting it down. "I wouldn't know, he keeps to himself when he's making something and doesn't talk about it with anyone. I humor him, and only intrude if there's an explosion, fire, or shockwave, he knows what he's doing. Most of the time." Her 'drinking' partner gave a quiet hum before focusing back on his youngest as said girl stood still for a moment before hanging her head, letting out a sigh and went back to what she was doing.

Sometimes during this peaceful lull she wondered what went through that girl's head, then shortly after she'd give up and continue whatever it was she was doing, Nanoha made absolutely no sense to her. The only thing she'd managed to come up with so far was she was talking to voices in her head, which while uncommon wasn't unheard off and made her wonder exactly was wrong with this family.

* * *

" _Razing Heart, what are you going to teach me today?"_

 _Haa… she hated being addressed by any name other than her own, far more than if she was addressed by 'Device' or 'it', and on top of being addressed in this barbaric tongue. At least this 'Nanoha' was respectful and didn't bother her outside of the times she forced the girl to learn the King's language and etiquette, the latter was easy to teach and the girl took to it like a natural, the other… in her long life, she'd never seen someone so inept at learning to_ talk _._

 _Her wielder was… strange, at least compared to those who held her in the past. For one and most important, there were two little sides to her that she'd seen, separated by a 'wall' if it could be called that. One side was simple and 'fake', and the other… the other she_ couldn'tunderstand _even after being 'alive' for so long._

 _That wasn't to say she was afraid of it, after so long and so many queens served, ranging from the benevolent tyrant to the most wretched of saints, she'd long lost 'surprise' and 'discomfort' over strange qualities in her wielders. She was more… interested in whatever her wielder was behind the 'wall', what little she'd seen when she woke up promised an enjoyable time if the 'wall' would be torn down. Unfortunately, or fortunately, she neither knew a way to do so nor cared enough to have tried to if she had, it would happen eventually anyway and she had eternity to look forward to, she'd lose interest if she just_ made _things happen._

 _Back to the present and her wielder, there wasn't much she could teach 'Nanoha' currently. Language as mentioned was beyond difficult for the girl, though with the way she poured effort into it, 'Nanoha' would eventually complete it, and their lesson for that had been done in the early morning, she 'disliked' teaching the same thing twice per day, it had proven incredibly boring in the past. History was not her strong suit, she knew the tales of her past wielders from start to end since she'd been passed from mother to daughter for millennia, but the other royalty, the major events her wielders chose not to join, she knew nothing of aside what she heard. Still, 'Nanoha' soaked up those tales she told the girl in the cold nights, far quicker than the King's language at any rate._

 _Swordsmanship was the only thing she had yet to teach the girl, and the only thing that made her wary was a conversation 'Nanoha' and the one she called 'Otou-sama' had, which had told her that the weapon her wielder used wasn't her life-weapon. Well, it wasn't truly swordsmanship so much as combat with a shield and some other weapon, but 'swordsmanship' was the only thing she knew how to call it._

 _Anyways, due to that she wouldn't be teaching the basics of using a shield just yet, nor would she use her 'home' as a sparring room just yet. Also given that 'Nanoha' already had made herself spells, and even made one that was far easier to use as an auto-guard than Panzerhindernis, she doubted the girl would want any others that she didn't make herself. Which left her with… absolutely nothing to teach the girl that she hadn't already done today, or was planned for later. Wonderful._

 _Another sigh left her before she returned to her wielder's question, asked barely two seconds ago, she hadn't meant to take so long in answering. "_ Later on tonight, I'll tell you about another Seraph's beginning. Until then, just do your normal things. _" The girl nodded her head once, turned slightly before cocking her head to the side and turning back around, did her wielder have something else to ask, haa… she just wanted to sleep again._

" _Razing Heart?" She_ reallyhated _that name with a passion, even so she refused to let that name bother her any more than necessary._ _"The names you gave my spells, 'Macht, Geschwi… Geschwindi… the speed one, Ausdauer, Ablenkschutz, Luftschritt and… Aufge…_ _Aufgelade… the mana blade. What do they mean?" Oh, those things, those spells that were barely being worth named due to how simple they were… well technically they weren't named still, but she'd just called them in their Belkan names._

 _Eh, they could be names for the spells if 'Nanoha' wanted, even if the things were more derogative in her eyes, all but Ablenkschutz anyway, out of the spells she'd spoken about that as the only one worth anything right now. "_ In order, Macht means 'Power', Geschwindigkeit means 'Speed', Ausdauer means 'Endurance', Ablenkschutz means 'Deflection Shield', Luftschritt means 'Air Step', and lastly Aufgeladene Klinge means 'Charged Blade'. _"_

 _The girl looked at her, face turning blank as the words she spoke registered, before a second passed, then three. Finally, on the fourth second the girl's hand met her face softly as a sigh left her mouth, muttering to herself as a satisfied smile made its way onto her own face, that little bit of amusement made her staying up far more worthwhile now, none of the Seraphs before were this… entertaining._

 _She may be a Device over a millennia old, but that simply made her… far more bored than the other sentient Devices, besides she had eternity to look forward to. She needed something to pass the time._

 _Anyway, she sent the girl away after that, there wasn't anything for her to be doing here yet, and she'd very much like to sleep away the next few hours. Unfortunately, sleep wouldn't come for a minute just like always and left her with a lot of time to continue 'reflecting' and thinking, which she was thankful that she had something to think about unlike the past few times she'd woken up since her last Seraph burned away._

 _Oh, her little Seraph of Blades, so little and naïve yet entertaining and mysterious, she would greatly enjoy figuring out this little girl that would wield her again as she was meant to. She sorely missed the entertainment War brought, dueling with rivals, midnight divebombs onto a castle's keep, victory banquets with allies and rivals at the war's end. She missed those days of fun and revelry, even if she never really took part in it, it was nice to have the sound of her Seraphs' laughter in her ears._

' _Nanoha', such an amusing little girl she would be in the future, for a moment her thoughts drifted to what rivals would the girl would make later in life along with what entertainment she'd give her. But that was far, far later into the future when Nanoha had her life-weapon and she'd taught her what little she had to teach the young Seraph._

 _Amidst everything that made up 'Nanoha' there was one thing that made her wary of this girl, not due to power or skill, she'd seen much, much better from the myriad of foes and wielders in the past. No, what drew her attention was the 'whisperings' that she felt slithering through 'cracks' in the 'wall', which inevitably showed her something that didn't belong. The 'whispers' interested her in the same way as the 'wall' and… 'strangeness' did, though the fact that they refused to be close enough for her to look at made her wonder what they were and what purpose they could possibly have._

 _Strangely, they had_ her _voice, only far gentler, from what little sound she'd heard… how that was possible both intrigued and confused her, quite the coincidence._

* * *

"That girl you brought with you, the blonde-haired one, is she doing any better?"

She didn't let the question catch her by surprise, though a sigh escaped her lips all the same, there went the nice silence that had sprung up after Nanoha got back to work. "She's still near-catatonic and refuses to leave the room she was put in, both of the others with her are making sure she doesn't do anything… extreme. Otherwise, she's apparently walking around the room now, so there's progress."

"I see… Do you believe she will recover, or will she wallow around in self-pity." She found herself lightly grimacing in reply to that… blunt question and careless reply her host gave. She was sure he hadn't meant it to sound so 'rudely', but his tone and words in response to another person's wellbeing made him sound as if he didn't care at all how the girl was doing and was just talking to talk.

"It… will take some time, but I think she'll pull through eventually." Taking a sip of her tea before placing it down, she leaned back and lightly breathed out her growing 'frustration' with the man beside her, at the very least he wasn't just giving false sympathy. "A question for you now, Shiro-san." The man took a sip of his own tea before minutely turning in her direction, his gaze still locked towards Nanoha as she set about in another set of exercises. "What the hell is _wrong_ with your children?"

He didn't even react at those nearly-hissed words, instead taking another drink and focusing on his daughter with a small smile, the first actual positive expression she's seen on him since she'd arrive. After almost a minute of him just silently watching the girl with a sip of tea every so often, she finally grew annoyed enough to reiterate her question again, "Shir-"

"Out of four, only one is normal. Two were born different from the rest, and the fourth had rage burned away in a fire that consumed a thousand men, women and children."

Only she was interrupted before the second syllable left her lips, giving her an answer that explained absolutely nothing, so she waited as he turned to her before tensing as she something… different from the passivity that had been in those brown eyes. Something far more menacing than the man's casual demeanor and appearance belied. "You've seen my youngest when she fights, haven't you?"

A nod was the only reply she gave her host, not exactly sure how that would give her the answer to her question, but unwilling to question him since he seemed to be leading up to the answer anyway. Shiro-san's gaze switched back to his daughter as she started an apparently new set of slashes and stabs against the wooden dummy. "Tell me, what is the difference between her now and when she was fighting."

The number one difference was the most obvious, she was training rather than fighting. Despite wanting to make that smartass remark after the earlier brushing off on the other girl's condition and her own interruption seconds before, she reined in her frustration and just looked a bit deeper. Second among the differences she could see was… she was a lot more skilled than she'd ever shown during the many fights she'd watched her have with Chrono, especially after her Transformation into… whatever it was he'd been.

Despite that being much more valid than the first, she didn't feel that was what Shiro was talking about, which led her to looking for anything else. There had been the rollercoaster of emotions she'd seen the girl go through in that last battle between them… which had at first looked like a breakdown before turning into that shell of a human from the transformation. That of all things was the likeliest to be the difference her host was talking about… but even so, he didn't seem like the man to put value in emotions.

So she kept looking at differences, finding the smallest differences she could possibly see from a girl she'd barely known for less than a month, she saw and recalled how she treated her family compared to those she had fought, only to find she treated them the exact same with a little more 'warmth' towards family. She looked at how Nanoha dressed then and now, finding that she seemed to adore being barefoot and was a bit more… 'extravagant' in her designing of a Barrier Jacket, as well as her Device… which made no sense considering the jewel set into an already existing object rather than make its own like every other Device she'd seen before.

Regardless, after pondering for several minutes and emptying Bob of tea twice she finally came to a stop and went back to the third difference she'd seen in Nanoha, out of every little thing she'd seen that was the single biggest thing that stood out. "Would that difference happen to be she has a different personality she uses for fighting?"

She expected him to confirm her guess with a nod or deny with a shake of his head, she didn't expect an ' _amused noise'_ to quietly be uttered, responding with equally amused words after drinking the last of his tea. "Close Harlaown-san, very close. But not quite." Without saying anything else he picked up the teapot at his side and refilled his cup, taking a quick sip after lacing the pot back at his side before continuing. "I'll leave that question for you to figure out on your own, and just move to my other two children."

"My oldest is simple to explain, he has to deal with three people that are… 'broken' would be the easiest way to say it, but not very accurate except for my first daughter. 'Different' works a bit better for all of us together but still isn't right. Regardless, he has to deal with and look after three individuals that each are messed up in their own way, which leaves little room to be… 'nice' and friendly, especially when his sisters can't tell when someone is taking advantage of them."

A light sigh left the man after he finished speaking about his son… she honestly had expected him to either continue with cryptic riddles or just not say, it just seemed like something the man would do, since he'd been completely truthful for _everything_ else that had been asked of him. "Miyuki… She wasn't my daughter to begin with, she was my innocent niece born to my sister. Then a single act of terrorism killed two clans, and roughly two-thirds of another, and left only four survivors." His voice had taken on a wistful tone as he started speaking about his older daughter, and with the second sentence she could understand why.

Shiro stayed quiet for a moment before taking a long drink from his tea, an action she took part in as well… it seemed even a 'backwater' place like this still had to deal with the same problems plaguing the Administrated worlds… her poor Chrono… "She's better now than she was directly after the incident, though she tends to relapse and say things that don't make sense if she sees _any_ flame at all. That fire seared away more than just her skin."

She waited for him to elaborate more, or at the very least give her some indication that he was done talking, instead he just quietly sat his cup of tea down and proceeded to stare up at the grey-cast sky above. No words were given to comfort the man, she had none that the man probably hadn't heard already, nor would any actions be taken to try and reach the same effect, such displays were for the people who were married here and weren't welcome from others. So instead she just sat near him and drank her tea, letting him have time to himself and sort himself out, that's what Graham did for her, and it worked out.

Eventually after a long period of silence, and a light rain beginning to fall on Nanoha-chan, her tea ran out again, a light-hearted conversation playing out with Bob that made the man look over at her in amusement. "More tea please old friend. Though add less sugar and more milk in this cup." " _As you wish your Ladyship, one milligram of sugar less and two milliliters of milk more."_ "Thank you Bob. Are you excited to see the cherry blossoms fall in the spring?" _"Of course your Ladyship, it should be as beautiful as you at the very least."_

She laughed quietly in response to her Device's last words, looking back up at Nanoha-chan as Bob refilled himself, her device was such a gentleman sometimes. "… That had better not be green tea."

She had the dignity to look affronted at the sudden accusation, she wasn't _that_ much of an eccentric as to drink that kind of tea with extra additives. "Of course not! Milk and cream taste **terrible** with green tea, sugar's decent enough though." Shiro-san gave her a look before shaking his head quietly, turning back to his daughter just as she finished the last of her swinging and proceeded to just stand in the grass for a moment, until finally she turned and gave them a gentle smile.

"I did it flawlessly Otou-sama, did I do good?"

On one hand the girl unnerved her greatly, what with the massive amounts of mana she could use and the lack of restraint she had shown when using it, not even counting that she somehow managed to cheat death. On the other she looked so… innocent and full of joy at the thought of impressing her father. Nanoha-chan was such a strange girl, a strange, happy-go-lucky, terrifying little girl that made so little sense.


	12. Interim I

_AN: Quick notes, first, old chapters were updated to be less 'wall of text', Nanoha's incantation for her device is different and as of the current chapters incomplete, that will be addressed during the next arc._

 _Second, this chapter, and likely the next would be considered… 'filler' I believe it's called, normally I'd just make what would be this chapter into the start of the next arc… but given the amount of time that passes between the two, there was a need to do this, otherwise I'd be doing a flashback scene or a_ long _exposition on what happened. Frankly, this was the easier option in the long run._

 _Third, I've been working on things farther in the future for most of the time in between this chapter and the last. Nothing important enough to share now, but a few scenes are already made for the next arc._

 _Now then, on to the story, and a break from the near-nonstop action that's happened._

 _Amount of Hugs needed: 9,542_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 4,375_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

 _Once again she found herself in the company of the black-haired girl with a red-winged dress, only she was… on the edge of a very strange field of flowers seemingly at the edge of a_ massive _cliff. The other girl was sitting at the edge of the cliff with her legs dangling over the side and a merry tune playing from her throat, strangely she wasn't a giant this time, but she really didn't pay much attention to that._

 _What she paid attention to, was the fact that fog covered everything but a few rays of moonlight and the field of flowers… there was no sky, there was no horizon, no whatever was below the cliff, no field's edge… just a wall of fog. She didn't move anywhere… it felt unnecessary, nor did she say anything for the same reason… she really didn't understand these dreams, even with a few weeks to properly recall and look over the few she'd seen…_

" _Was denkst Du über sie,_ _\- -_ _?"_ _The girl was speaking… no, not the girl, just someone that looked like her. The other person's voice gave it away, too mature to be the girl, nor holding the same boundless excitement despite the similar size they had… despite that, they both spoke the same language, one which she was still_ incredibly _terrible at understanding still, let alone speak._

 _For a second she stayed quiet and seemed to think, or rather she seemed to think heavier than usual, before her own voice came out… distorted for some reason and speaking the in the exact same language, strange._ _"_ Der Seraph des Krieges? Sie ist jung und muss von der Welt lernen. Sie muss an ihrer Schwertkunst arbeiten und ihr Studium abholen. Sie ist dasselbe wie alle Seraphs vor ihr, abgesehen von dem Seraph des Todes und des Seraph des Lichts. _"_ _She only knew enough of 'the King's language' to spot the titles and understand what said titles were, most everything else was unfortunately lost on her._

 _The Seraphs of War, Death and Light… Of the three, she had only heard of Death and Light from Razing Heart, the former of the two had been the first Seraph and had carved out a kingdom for his descendants and those that followed him. Razing Heart had never said if that man had made her or just found her, really all she had said was he used her to carve his kingdom, and he was one of three men who'd been Seraphs._

 _The other, the Seraph of Light… she'd been the closest to a physical angel out of all the Seraphs from what Razing Heart had said, she'd managed to make an enemy of almost every other kingdom and fought off_ multiple _combined forces over the course of her life. Of the few other Seraphs she'd learned of, the Seraph of Light was the one Razing Heart had regarded as the greatest and the strongest... with her only faults being arrogance and a desire to rule. It was probably for the best that the Seraph of Light fell after numerous assaults, and her daughter took the mantle of Seraph after her._

" _... Glaubst du, sie wird bereit sein?"_ _… She was certain that the dream either should have played a lot quicker, or it stopped whenever she was thinking, but she didn't pay it much attention, focusing back on the woman the moment she spoke again._

 _Once more she took a few seconds to think before deciding to turn and walk four steps towards the fog silently._ _"_ Nein ... sie wird nie bereit sein. _"_ _Her voice sounded… disappointed and 'upset' over saying that line, whatever it meant… she would need to_ really _work on her 'King's language, at the very least to understand the dreams. Anyway, she seemed to pause for a moment before continuing to talk to the woman, a tinge of sadness in her voice if she heard right._ _"_ Nur ein Seraph war bereit für einen wahren Krieg, und das war nur, weil er es durchgemacht hatte, bevor ich ihm Flügel gab. _"_

 _Silence descended upon them, a strangely comfortable one as the woman got up from the cliffside, turned and walked towards her, giving a blank face up until they were face-to-face. Another moment passed by before the woman walked forward and embraced her, whispering into her ear the moment she returned the gesture._ _"Schütze sie mit all deiner Fähigkeit,_ _\- -_ _. Ich fürchte für sie und das Überleben unseres Königreichs."_

 _The fog began creeping forward the moment the woman finished speaking, signaling the end of the dream was coming… the dreams were predictable in that way._ _"_ Wie du befehlst, mein Seraph. Ich wünsche Ihnen morgen einen schönen Tod. _"_

 _A 'tinkling' laugh sounded out in response to those strange words,_ and then she was awake again, confused by whatever event that dream was and why she dreamt it. She had to thank the dreams though, they managed to get her awake and alert the moment she came out of them despite the… strangeness they usually gave off.

Regardless, she pulled the simple blanket off of her and got out of bed, going about her early morning dressing before walking out the door, Otou-sama didn't need to get her for training anymore since her job was finished.

* * *

She spent the early hours of the morning doing as she'd done before in the three weeks since the end of her first job, she did two chores, mostly the menial ones, and then moved on to the forest outside to continue furthering her spells. Without the constant anticipation of her job calling her, as well as being out from the inadvertent oversight of Harlaown-sama, she could create and test 'new' spells on her own… provided the woman wasn't up and moving. That woman's sleep schedule… it was easier to say she didn't have one.

Thankfully for the second time since the Admiral and her crew took up residence she managed to avoid the tea-obsessed woman and make it to the woods. And so she went on with her major self-assigned project, 'upgrading' her augment spells, because while her augments were certainly effective given their apparent mana cost to performance, they weren't particularly… strong.

Sure, they had managed to make her a match for both Chrono-san and Fate-san, but that was all they did, aside from making her apparently _extremely_ difficult to take down. Against opponents in the sky, which she'd been informed was a skill that only the 'Aces' really had and were able to use in combat, she was stuck with not being able to catch up to their sheer speed, which essentially meant that her strength had little role to play and her durability was all that kept her in any fight. All of this together painted a picture that showed her that she was on the right direction, she just needed to keep going down that path

Which would likely lead to conflict with Harlaown-sama, and by extension Chrono-san and the crew, since apparently her created spells were _banned_ from being created and used, or at the very least the spells that affected her body's composition were. She didn't understand _why_ they were banned, sure those spells hurt her whenever she pushed them to far, but their usage far outweighed the risk each time.

That said, she hadn't disclosed that she'd even created those spells to any of their guests… or her family, the latter because they'd never asked about it, and the former due to pragmatic reasoning or they could be enemies in the future again.

 _And_ because of that, she and Lindy had… 'issues' during their first few sessions of training, which resulted in a few hours of both of their time being wasted with nothing but a pointless 'argument' that ended exactly as she expected. Thankfully they had sorted that out during the second to last session five days ago and had actually started teaching her a 'simple' spell… and once again just like with the flight spell she was _terrible_ at it. Though once more, thankfully she had someone who could help her through it and it wasn't as bad as the flight spell had been.

Today's agenda was simple, at least so far, work on an improvement for one of her spells for the early morning until the light peeked through the trees, go back and do another chore before eating breakfast with everyone, then move on to training with Harlaown-sama. After that it was time for lessons with Razing Heart, then some random task for Otou-sama, and finally end the day with a history lesson from Razing Heart about an event, kingdom, king or Seraph.

The spell she picked to continue working on was probably the one she didn't need right away, it didn't matter if she could hit once and take someone out if she couldn't hit them in the first place or survive long enough to get there. Though… with that said it would probably be the easiest of the three to work out what to do to improve them, and it wouldn't show the inevitable injuries as easy.

As of present, the only thing she had managed to work out, with a bit of help from a rather… 'irritated'… no, that wasn't right… Regardless, she had a bit of help from Razing Heart, and had found that there… really wasn't much of a limit on how much mana she could put in, though more mana meant a much higher chance of getting injured, as well as a much worse injury. What said injury was, she had only a vague idea given her prior 'experience' with overloading an augment, but she could only guess that it would be far, far worse.

Well, there was little point to continue thinking over it, otherwise she'd be wasting time, and have Razing Heart be annoyed over being woken up with nothing being done.

* * *

She learned nothing that she didn't already know, and her practice… she needed something more durable than trees since her basic augment was already strong enough to break trees, especially after Razing Heart started regulating mana to it and the others. So with that, she finished far quicker than she would have, and proceeded to make her way back through the trees to home, only to stop momentarily on the edge of the clearing as she spotted Harlaown-sama wide-awake looking up at the drifting moon in the middle of the grass.

Quietly and quickly she decided against doing her after-training chore and made her way over to her guest, crossing the several meters without issue before standing at her side. "I don't like being forced to do nothing." She didn't say anything in response, only waiting patiently for the woman to inevitably say more or to move 'unexpectedly', those were the only two likely options that the Admiral would take given she'd started the 'conversation' in the first place.

"I made a promise long ago…" She was proven right when the Admiral began speaking again, a soft, wistful note taking the place of her normal playful voice. "… to never stop fighting until there was peace on each world administrated by the Bureau. … It's been so long since I got to fight again." Harlaown-sama stopped again after saying those words, continuing to look at the moon without even acknowledging her presence, this time however she decided to give a response.

"There is war where you come from?" Lindy _jumped_ immediately after she spoke, twisting around and swinging with a still-forming hammer only to stop millimeters from her head.

For a few moments there was silence… maybe she should have announced her presence before speaking right next to her… Another moment passed before the hammer was calmly moved away from her head and swiftly remade into the teacup, a step taken backwards before the fear-etched face turned back to its usual, amused self. A light laugh left Lindy's mouth for some reason that she probably wouldn't understand, before the woman spoke again. "Ah, Nanoha-chan… I'm sorry for that… You _should_ have said something when you got here."

Oh… she… she wasn't good with doing that… she was normally the one who waited to be addressed or be told to do something, the only time she'd ever been proactive was with Suzuka, and that had been largely accidental due to crazy cats. Anyway, she gave a bow to her guest along with a firm "Yes ma'am." before turning and walking back into the house, she still had one more chore to do before breakfast came… she needed a broom.

* * *

The rest of the morning was largely uneventful, Lindy avoided her for the entirety of that time and she cleaned the halls without much sound. Breakfast came and went without issue, less lively than it had been the last few days, but still better than before the end of her job…

Really the only other notable thing that happened that morning was Otou-sama letting her know that _her_ blade's tamahagane had been produced and was beginning the process of becoming a sword. That information sent her into a satisfied daze for the rest of the morning, one that managed to last until midday and caused her to… casually go through the day without focusing too much on what she was doing.

She only managed to get out of the daze when Harlaown-sama came and got her, absent of whatever strange thing had affected her, for their sparring and likely exhausting lesson. It started out well enough.

They went to the yard between the dojo Onee-sama used, the farthest one from the 'main' house, and the house where Fate and her family were being… 'held' for right now. She hadn't gone to visit Fate yet, the only reasons being she was busy training, and she was sure Fate… probably was better off without her around, she wasn't exactly the best person to be comforting others.

Anyway, both she and Lindy made their way over to that area of the property and stopped, being passed by both Onee-sama and Chrono-san as they went into the dojo itself to do… whatever it was hey did, she was sure it was something important given that Onee-sama wouldn't allow him into her 'sanctuary' without a reason. She soon disregarded that thought and focused on Lindy, her guest bringing out her Device again as she did the same with Razing Heart and her blade, emerald and pink covering them for a brief moment before they were in their Jackets again.

A light hum sounded out before the Admiral stamped her hammer into the ground and placed her free hand up to her head in thought, "You still want to work on Bind Break Nanoha? Or would you rather learn something else and put that aside for now?" Hmm… so that would be how they start the day's training… honestly, she didn't care _too_ much right now, she wasn't in a hurry like with… Luftschritt, nor did she have anything that needed to be attended to, which meant she could afford the time to take things 'slower'

With that decision made she simply gave a nod before socketing Razing Heart into her normal place before making ready, Lindy giving another hum before raising her weapon up. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a few men and women come out from the building, no more than ten by the looks of it, and in that moment she was wrapped in emerald chains… she either needed to stop looking at her surroundings, or she needed to look a lot faster, otherwise she'd likely kill herself someday.

"Back to where we left off then, breaking out of an advanced bind~." There was enough time for her to let out a voiceless sigh before she started doing what the spell required of her, find the 'code' of the bind and then make the 'counter-code' to destroy it. At least with that, it was mostly 'find the numbers' in the spell, why there was mathematics involved she had no idea, and following that 'find the numbers that kill the other numbers'.

The practice… didn't go well, not when it began nor when it was about to end, though with that said progress was still made. Given mainly that Razing Heart… didn't do much for her outside of combat, she was forced to figure the 'code' and 'counter-code' out on her own, yet again she was thankful that it was mathematics and science that dictated spells and not language, otherwise she'd be in a _much_ worse position.

For the rough… hour and a half, she managed to get out of there once… _partially_. She'd managed to get one part of the mass of chains off of her, which only allowed her to take her left hand out before the allotted time for this part of her lessons was done. By that point however she managed to get the base 'code' for the bind, on top of making a working 'counter-code', the issue lied in getting the two to interact.

 _That_ was where the entire difficulty laid in this learning.

Regardless, the chains disappeared and they finally moved along to the next part of her practice, sparring. Lindy wasn't as skilled as Otou-sama was, her weapon was much more… 'clumsy' than a normal sword, that didn't mean she wasn't as deadly with the warhammer as Otou-sama was.

Which translated to her getting beat senseless by a hammer bigger than her, in a 'fight' that had no real rules to it aside from no killing, magic was allowed, wounds were allowed, flying was allowed… pretty much everything but killing. And given that she had no real 'drive' to win this time, just one to improve and learn, which again meant that she wasn't giving her complete best and so was getting absolutely… destroyed… not that it mattered since her pain tolerance was steadily getting higher and higher, _and higher_.

She managed to land a single hit before the next hour and a half passed, an unorthodox headbutt into Harlaown-sama's chin… Lindy landed a total of _169 blows_ on her, ranging from whacking her in the face with the hammer's pommel, to sweeping her feet out from under her, and smashing the hammer's head somewhere into her body, as well as the final counter-headbutt.

It was an improvement on the first few sessions, though unfortunately her guest was holding back, so the benefits were largely drawn at learning how an 'Ace', 'Mage' or whatever it was Lindy was, fought, and improving her base speed, power and endurance. Though the second one… she wouldn't see results for that for a long time, probably not until she was into her twenties at the least, which was hindsight probably a reason she'd made her augments in the first place.

Anyway, it was nearly time to g-

* * *

He'd learned several things since coming here.

First, the family he was staying with were… very different from what he expected of a normal family, though to be fair they probably weren't one or even cared that they weren't. Second, even if only one of them could use magic, they _all_ could kick a mage's ass without really trying if no flying got used… as he had first-hand experience in understanding. Though with that said, only Nan… yes, Nanoha was her name, was able to keep up with Aces… probably.

And lastly, he learned that he _really_ needed to work a bit more on learning how to defend himself in close-quarters after having Miyuki help him test out his arm… a mistake on his part.

"Sixty-three." Miyuki retreated a step and let him get back up to his feet, humming something with a gentle smile etched into her face… it was hard to say he wasn't getting used to her somewhat-strange behavior. S2U was stamped into the ground for the twenty-third time during their little… spar, and he forced himself back to his feet, breathing heavily and sweating just as bad as he got back into stance.

While he had been making his new arm she'd often been around watching him… kind of… and so he saw… he honestly had no idea what to call it, though the closest thing he'd seen resembling it was whenever mother was remembering something 'bad'… Ignoring that, he sometimes got to see her, whenever she wasn't lost looking into the flames in the forge or helping him out by holding something, doing exercises with her swords, which had prompted him into asking her for help testing his limb… Again, it was a mistake, one he was living with and hoping paid off.

The new limb didn't have everything he wanted it to have yet, the reactor didn't give enough mana to suit him, the metal was worse quality than he wanted, there was no way to discharge mana if he needed it urgently and there were no… 'special parts' anywhere near here for the time being. Barring that, he had just wanted to learn if the actual _design_ worked as intended… thankfully it did, it would have been a _massive_ pain to graft another layer on top of the other three, _and then_ put in the inner-workings after that.

His stave swung through the air while his new hand rose in time to deflect the blade, just as her other sword slid along S2U's length. The first blade hooked back in sync with its sibling, and for the fifth time he was stuck looking at two weapons reach for him, just before the both retracted, and yet another number sounded out. "Sixty-four." Once more she backed away with both of them getting back into a ready stance… well, his was more of him bracing himself rather than a 'stance'.

And then they were at it again, stave moving upwards, a blade sending it careening to the side, a hand blocking the other sword, a backstep taking him out of range of the first swinging again only for him to stumble. Unlike the prior seven times, he managed to grab one of Miyuki's swords and parry the other away, twisting his body and throwing the girl behind him, only to be struck immediately in the face by a kick…

"Sixty-five." He hated hearing those numbers… he _hated_ them so much. S2U gave a click as he held her at his side, while the prosthetic let out a light hum as their inner workings slowly ticked away ready for mana to go through them… which wouldn't happen. "You're gripping too tightly still, loosen your grip a bit and you'll move your stave around faster."

He knew she was just trying to help, so he wasn't angry… instead he was _extremely_ frustrated at both himself and his inability to grasp what she was trying to help him with, as well as the fact that she didn't help him aside from pointing out the mistakes… continuing to just kick his ass around. " _I'm trying._ " What he said came out as a hiss, as it had usually become in the wake of these spars, and as usual she took it in stride and continued.

"Good, if you weren't you wouldn't have taken as few hits this time." His stave clicked against the floor as Miyuki relaxed minutely, letting him have a break for however long she would be… Saint-king, he didn't have enough stamina to keep sparring for the several hours that Miyuki preferred… he barely lasted the hour that they did daily. "That said, you aren't improving nearly as fast as any of us did… Hmm…"

"How about a shift in focus, just try blocking and dodging rather than trying to hit me. Kaa-sama's training was meant to be started younger, so you may…" She got out of her stance for a few brief seconds and took a pose he'd seen Lindy use a few times, thinking over something before returning to her stance and nodding once. "Yes, you're too old to learn our way, so we'll just focus on what'll keep you alive."

… He had no idea how to respond to that, other than raising his stave up again and bracing himself, so he just remained quiet and waited, regaining his breath as Miyuki finished thinking over… whatever it was she had been going over. And so they started again, and he tried his best to follow the difficult task she gave him.

The first thing he had learned from Miyuki specifically, was there were no rules besides what was laid done at the start, which was usually 'no magic', 'no killing' and 'no breaking weapons'. The second and more important of the two… he learned while she was polite, gentle and kind, she was absolu-

A fist unexpectedly darting out and hitting him square in the face stopped his thoughts and sent him reeling, quickly placing S2U in the path of left sword before trying to get away from the other by backing off. "Focus, Sixty-seven." Surprisingly, amidst the flurry of swords that was after him he didn't get struck once, mainly from a combination of continuing to dodge and block everything. At least something was improving that he could see immediately.

"You're getting better at defense, still not enough though for Nanoha, but enough that you can last half a minute with her." He didn't say anything in response, first of all too tired to actually say anything coherent, and second, focused on making sure there wasn't any-

Faster than he could react to or even see, Miyuki crossed the few meters between them and placed her swords at his neck, staying there for a few seconds before being withdrawn and sheathed, then he returned to finishing her words. "It also isn't enough to last me if I decide to stop holding back, but you'll get there in a year or seven Chrono-san. Probably."

"You didn't reach a hundred this time, good job." … A compliment… an actual compliment without a unintentional barb… That was new. Anyway he followed Miyuki's lead and let S2U return to its default mode, storing it back at its home at his side and prepared himself for what was to come next. Even with a prosthetic made of metal hitting hard, it didn't matter much if you couldn't hit the target, which was the entire problem with Miyuki.

As Nanoha herself demonstrated, just because Miyuki didn't have a weapon in her hands didn't meant that she couldn't and wouldn't kick his ass, even if she was much 'worse' without her weapon. Because apparently on top of being a swordswoman, she was also 'decent' in her words in martial arts… which was far better than his own lackluster ability in the arts, there was a reason he preferred longer-distance spells to close-combat like mother.

Regardless, he received another beatdown without once hitting her, though it was _much_ better than the ones he'd been subjected to before, given he wasn't _trying_ to hit her, just not be hit by her.

He ducked under a 'light' jab, twisted out of the way of a kick, rolled under another kick and immediately was nailed in the face by a punch. Despite being nowhere near as strong as Nanoha, Miyuki still hit a lot harder than he expected, making him reel back for a moment and barely make out the next number before getting his legs swept out from under him. Pushing himself back up with a groan and a much clearer head, he heard her back away a few steps and calmly call out, "Seventy-five."

Bringing his hands up again, he was barely ready when Miyuki was already on him, moving the prosthetic to block the incoming jab, a hollow clang ringing as she immediately moved the limb away and kicked at his head, and yet again more ducking 'saving' him from another number and a likely concussion. Then he tried to hit her, making a very sloppy punch in comparison to her at her chest, an action that she easily avoided due to him being out of breath and in terrible at this before following with another number as she replied in kind. "Seventy-six."

When one of Miyuki's sheathes were brought up directly into his forehead several seconds later, he was of course caught off-guard, a few fast-paced moments later, he was somehow airborne and sent soaring towards the 'wall' of the building. He should have seen that coming… 'there were no rules' and all that idiocy, he was tired of following the 'rules' only to get hit out of nowhere.

Crashing through the 'wall' of the building was far from the worst way a spar ended between them, it was probably one of the three best so far if he was truthful… landing on Nanoha on the other hand… that made things far, _far_ worse than the prior times. For several, long drawn-out moments he didn't do anything, even though he heard mother trying to stifle a laugh and Miyuki call out, "Seventy-seven." … He _hated_ those numbers with a passion.

Finally Nanoha, still with that unnerving, dead smile that never went away, decided to say something before 'lightly' shoving him off her. "Chrono-san, get off." Of course… 'lightly' to her was relatively strong to the normal person, so he was treated, yet again, to being sent flying away… at this point he really should just get used to it.

His body stopped moving after making contact with a tree, not hard enough to hurt, but still enough that he felt the impact, a low groan let out before he slowly got back to his feet, stretched his back to try and get the aching out and started walking back towards the building. Might as well try and repair the damage he and Miyuki had made… or at least rest a bit

He'd probably just rest, Miyuki's sparring he could handle, Nanoha? The girl had enough force to rival bombardment spells even when she was just being light, and he'd rather not have anything broken or strained for tomorrow's practice… Yeah… rest was much more preferred, the 'wall' could wait.

* * *

After the… lack-luster training and sparring of yet another day, the rest of the day's light was spent in… a relaxing way. She went on a trip to with Onee-sama to the store a few minutes after they finished cleaning up and storing everything, they'd fix the broken screen later when the light began to fade, until then though they had groceries to get and a meal to cook and serve at least.

Nothing noteworthy happened during the trip, aside from her and Onee-sama talking minutely about Chrono-san's 'inability' to change and how Onee-sama was going to address that, since what she was doing wasn't working well enough. Aside from that there wasn't much else to say, they bought groceries, Onee-sama dragged her into a clothing store shortly after and made her try some dresses on, and an hour later than they should have been, they were home again.

Once there, they deposited the groceries on the counter and Onee-sama got to work, while she went over to the table and waited for Onee-sama to call her for help or get meals. She wasn't allowed anywhere near kitchen and its appliances, a good thing since she had _zero_ talent in cooking, unlike Okaa-sama and Onee-sama who were quite skilled. Instead she'd be bringing the meals over a few at a time, and after that was done, go around and tell those that weren't there already that it was time to eat.

Simple tasks compared to what Onee-sama was doing.

Otou-sama had opened up another of the buildings, rearranging the panels so that there was a large dining room that accommodated them and their guests, since the table their family used was far, far too small for everyone.

…That said they didn't have anywhere near enough chairs to actually sit everyone, so they resorted to the older way of seating and low tables, which had been slightly amusing to see every member of the crew except Harlaown-sama 'stumble' about unsure what to do. It quickly lost amusement when they still weren't sure how to do it five days after, but that was expected.

"Nanoha-chan." Her focus snapped back to Onee-sama, immediately getting up from the chair she had waited on and went over, collecting a few of the plates before making her way out of the little 'kitchen' they were in. Considering the distance between the 'main house', which had the only functioning kitchen right now, and the… 'cafeteria', Otou-sama had also gone and bought a few basic appliances and moved the panels around to make a cooking area next to the dining area.

The thing could only accommodate the appliances jammed against one another, two chairs by the 'door' and her and Onee-sama 'comfortably', but that was all that really needed to begin with. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't efficient, it wasn't even really effective, but it worked well enough and that's all that mattered.

Coming out of the little 'kitchen' let her immediately hear the groups of people wandering in and sitting down, thankfully kneeling as they were meant to on the cushions, so she went around to those currently sitting and placed down a meal in front of each. She received thanks from those she served on the first round, and in turn she gave permission for them to start eating, it was better since the meals were better when they came out.

Quickly she went back to the 'kitchen', idly listening to the noise slowly increase in volume as she waited for Onee-sama to finish the next set. A few minutes later, she went out again and immediately was hit with a mass of even more noise.

The atmosphere in the large zashiki was quite lively when she went out again, there were conversations going on animatedly, soldiers sharing stories to others, crewmembers going over plans for the next day, some 'jokes' that she wouldn't understand and some hushed conversations about _something_ they seemed 'anxious' about. Either way, none of that was her business to know, so she tuned it out and just served the food, before going back again to fetch more meals from Onee-sama.

Several more rounds of taking meals out to the guests were made before she went on a short walk to see if there was anyone in particular missing… namely Harlaown-sama, Onii-sama and occasionally Yuuno-san and some of the experienced Enforcers. The first of those three… mainly was from the terrible sleep schedule she had alongside losing track of time, Onii-sama she wasn't sure about, but he seemed to be out of the property more often than not and when he was he was always with Onee-sama or her. The others mostly lost track of time like Harlaown-sama while thinking over something, nothing else really.

Somehow, the two that usually were the ones she had to go and fetch came in just as she exited the building, which was a relief for her since she wouldn't be searching high and low again this evening. That said she still went on her little round-up, checking the open buildings and knocking on rooms to see if they were occupied, before heading back herself to get her own meal from Onee-sama when she found no one else.

It was less lively when she got back, several groups having finished quickly and left by the time she got back, leaving only a few people remaining, alongside Otou-sama and Onii-sama, Yuuno-san, Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san at the middle-most table. Of course, despite being mother and son, Chrono-san and Harlaown-sama _rarely_ got along well, which resulted in the zashiki still being lively despite the lack of people, since they went at one another constantly for whatever reason it was that day.

Today was no different, seeing as they were already in the middle of some 'passive' argument, which she promptly ignored in favor of getting food.

Thankfully, Onee-sama was just coming out of the 'kitchen' with two last meals, one of which she took from Onee-sama with a slightly brighter smile before both of them made their way over to the table and sat down. She sat down at the end of the table, with Yuuno-san at her left and Otou-sama to her right, while Onee-sama on the other side of Yuuno-san beside Chrono-san, quietly they both said thanks and joined the others in eating.

It wasn't an elaborate meal, mostly just meant to be filling and good for the body. That said, Onee-sama still did a very good job and made it taste good in addition to those two qualities, which she was quite thankful for. While it was possible to subsist off of food that tasted bland or terrible while still being good for one's health, she'd much rather have something that tasted good, as she was sure most other individuals would agree.

Roughly sometime after a minute Onee-sama stopped eating and looked over at Otou-sama, who stopped eating the moment she looked at him, and asked a question she'd asked a few times already. "Tou-sama, can you please give me more space to prepare meals?"

Otou-sama deliberated for several seconds before giving his answer, very likely it would be the exact same as the one he gave before, with maybe a bit added to it o Onee-sama would stop asking. "As I've said three times before now, unless you are going to make a temporary building, the answer is no. There's not enough space to accommodate that size and the number of people we're hosting." A light hum was Onee-sama's response as she closed her eyes, tilted her head slightly and nodded, returning back to her regular posture after a moment before sighing gently.

"Alright Tou-sama. It just is quite time-consuming cooking in that small area is why I asked."

With that both Onee-sama and Otou-sama lapsed into silence, letting both Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san remain the only ones speaking to each other… or was it 'at each other' since they were arguing? Anyway, she tuned them out and continued to eat, finishing shortly after Yuuno-san did so… that said she didn't have anything to do at the moment she decided to just sit and try to understand what they were talking about. Which meant first asking what they had talked about to begin with… and since the only one to finish was Yuuno-san…

"What is Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san arguing about this time?"

The sudden question caught Yuuno-san off-guard, the boy her age jumping slightly at the sound of her voice and whipping to face her before stopping, processing the question and giving a half-hearted shrug and answering. "It started with something about cartridges, then went into safety risks, and somehow tangented into Chrono not respecting her… I got lost on the second sentence."

Well… so much for that, she got a basic summary, but that's about it… oh well, might as well just listen and try to understand then.

Chrono-san was the one currently talking, 'glaring' at the Admiral while she was smiling 'sweetly' and waiting for him to finish before inevitably replying in kind. "-nd why would I respect a woman that gets drunk off of copious amounts of _Tea_?"

"For the same reason that you respect your Aunt and Miyuki-chan." Harlaown-sama's smile didn't lessen or grow as that was said, staying the exact same as she took a sip of her ever-present teacup. After a slight pause, she brought the cup down again to the table and continued as if she hadn't stopped speaking. "I can and will beat you up in training to make sure you learn the lesson/spell properly."

The admiral stretched lightly at the end of her reply, either missing or ignoring the incensed glare at the end of her reason, before looking back with the same sweet smile she had since the beginning. At this point both Onii-sama and Onee-sama finished and watched with either disinterest or amusement as mother and son continued to go at one another. "Considering that the only things you taught me were Stinger Blade and Blaze Can-"

Not waiting for him to finish, the Admiral looked over at the rest of the table, noticing that all but one person was watching them argue, before promptly cutting Chrono-san before he could finish his reply. "We can continue this later Chrono-kun, we're causing everyone at the table to stop and look over at us."

For several drawn-out moments Chrono-san looked straight at Harlaown-sama, mouth closing in response before bluntly pointing out, "… We do that on a daily basis Admiral…" Of course as usual the Admiral took that in stride with a smile and replied with barely any time spent to think what she was going to say.

"Yes, and it's still rude to interrupt everyone else's meal to have an argument and the food will get cold by the time we finish our argument. You were raised better, weren't you?"

Chrono-san stopped for a moment to just blankly look at Harlaown-sama, staring at her as she drank another cup of tea until after several moments he sighed and gave a reply. "… I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that from you, and start eating then."

"See, there's your manners~" Her response was quick and light-hearted, eliciting a stifled laugh from Onee-sama, a heavy sigh from Chrono-san and Onii-sama, confusion from her and Yuuno-san, and nothing from Otou-sama as usual. And then dinner continued on without anything else happening.

… Harlaown-sama was strange sometimes, but she made things far livelier here and that was welcome so long as it didn't go too far.

She should probably go and meet Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan soon, now that everything was settled and everyone was in… a semi-good routine, it was alright for her to ask to go and meet them, Suzuka-chan in particular would be quite happy to meet up again. She'd do that tomorrow if Otou-sama would let her go, maybe surprise Suzuka-chan as well.


	13. Interim II

_Amount of Hugs needed: 10,398_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 4,849_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

Nanoha-chan's excuses… they were always so flimsy yet dejected.

'Sorry Suzuka-chan, Otou-sama has me doing chores very late tonight.'

'Otou-sama said I couldn't, we have a family gathering on those days.'

'Onee-sama's taking me somewhere, I can ask if she's alright with you coming along?'

'I have to take care of some family friends until they leave for home. Sorry Suzuka-chan.'

Nanoha-chan… she couldn't tell a lie to save her life, and that was what she liked most about her first friend, aside from simply _being_ friends… Kaa-sama didn't let her out of the house often when she was little, _at best_ she was allowed onto the grounds with Noel-san and two of Kaa-sama's kobun. Of course that changed when Nanoha-chan came by with her mother, but that had been… difficult to go through since she herself didn't know what to do and Nanoha-chan… was Nanoha-chan.

It was hard… but she managed to learn how to act appropriately in public whenever Nanoha or one of Kaa-sama's kobun were with her… she had 'hiccups' every once in a while, bowing too low, bowing too high, not addressing people properly, not knowing how to deal with people that were bothering her. There'd never been anyone that had bothered her before Arisa… the kyodai were the only ones Kaa-sama allowed near the mansion itself and they were fairly well-mannered, Nanoha-chan... people stayed away from her for whatever reason.

Which translated to the first time she was alone, she was given a situation she neither understood, nor could figure out how to get it done with. And then Nanoha-chan made it _worse_ before she just… snapped.

That had been exhilarating… and absolutely frightening.

Kaa-sama eventually learned of her outburst, she had long given up on learning how she did, and had been waiting for her when she came home, she didn't have a frown which meant she wasn't disappointed but at the same time she didn't have a smile, so she hadn't known what to do then. She hadn't said anything, merely let her into the house and allow her to attend a meeting she had later that day, that had been nice.

Anyway, Arisa… the two of them didn't get along at first, and even now two years later they could barely be considered 'friends', more mutual friends of a single person that tolerated one another. She didn't really understand _why_ Arisa wanted to be friends with Nanoha when the both of them decided to fight upon first meeting… then again they both seemed to enjoy their play fights.

Arisa… she certainly was polite to her, but… they only really 'worked' well with one another whenever Nanoha-chan was around… the hot springs trip was… not as enjoyable as it could have been. She still was trying to get used to not being told what to do and what not to do every waking moment… and Arisa reminded her of Kaa-sama whenever she started telling her things…

Arisa didn't do that whenever Nanoha-chan was around, and that made her feel happy and free for the duration that Nanoha-chan was around. The only time she did was when Nanoha-chan had started acting… different from normal, and she'd let it happen if only because she was more concerned with Nanoha-chan's behavior.

Onee-chan would be following in Kaa-sama's footsteps, she was the heiress after all and most of Kaa-sama's kobun were well acquainted with her, far more than her at any rate. That left her… unsure of what _she_ wanted to do… she didn't have much she enjoyed doing, and on top of that what she did enjoy revolved around the things Kaa-sama was in charge of.

Which resulted in the… problem of her trying to start up from the ground, or follow in Onee-chan's wake if she wanted to do it… not something she particularly wanted to do…

She'd… gotten off track, just like Nanoha-chan did normally… considering that there was nothing to occupy her time but thinking right, which for Nanoha-chan must have had at almost every waking moment, she now understood why she got lost in thought so often. Doing nothing sucked.

Absentmindedly she started to pet one of the cats at her side, listening to it purr as the others seemingly glared at it and she continued to wallow away in boredom. Then something unexpected happened, a knock sounding from the door, that immediately stopped her petting and made her and one cat to look at the door, Falin-chan's voice carrying through the door and immediately giving her something to be excited for.

"Suzuka-sama! You have a guest!"

A guest? There wasn't anyone besides Nanoha-chan that would come to see her, seeing as Arisa only came over whenever Nanoha-chan was attending, and none of the other children much liked to be friends with someone associated to Nanoha for some reason. And even with Nanoha-chan, she had 'Family friends that need to be taken care of', so it wasn't like she'd be here until those 'friends' were gone.

And with a slow opening of her door, followed by Falin-chan coming in, she was treated to the happiest moment of the past three weeks. Nanoha-chan was here! And for once she hadn't invited her over either!

Given how ecstatic she was and how long it had been since she'd so much as seen Nanoha, it was a given that she quickly got up, ignored every cat around her looking straight at Nanoha, made her way over and gave her friend a hug. That was what friends or loved ones did when they were meeting after a while did… right?

"Nanoha-chan! Come in, have a seat. Falin-chan, can you get us some tea?"

She barely heard the confirmation from Falin-chan before her maid was out the door and off to see to getting them drinks, instead focusing solely on Nanoha-chan, making a path towards the sole table in the room and pulling out a seat while Nanoha-chan did the same.

Now… how to start…

"It's good to see you, Nanoha-chan. Is everything settled now?"

Near-absentmindedly Nanoha-chan gave a nod of her, as she often did whenever it was the two of them, giving a light hum before giving a quick response of, "It's good to see you." and "Yes." … They really didn't know how to have a proper 'normal' conversation.

"That's… good. How are those family friends doing?"

Nanoha-chan looked towards her with her smile, gentle, warm and full of joy, and gave a light laugh. That last action caused her to look at Nanoha-chan strangely, since that wasn't something she normally did, before her only friend shook her head and replied.

"They've settled in, they won't be going home until they can get a stable connection to home. Chrono-san and Onee-sama tend to spend time together, Harlaown-sama and Otou-sama either sit and watch me practice while drinking tea or Harlaown-sama helps me. The others tend to go around doing random things, writing, practicing, wandering, telling stories, normal things for them I guess."

… Huh… Nanoha-chan actually had people over, so now she felt a bit bad for being… 'annoyed' that Nanoha-chan hadn't come over or been on a trip for a while… She was still annoyed for the scare that Nanoha-chan had before school ended, but that was natural. She'd have to ask if she come over and meet these 'family friends' to see if they were good people and were good enough for Nanoha-chan's time.

"That's good Nanoha-chan. Oh, thank you Falin-chan."

Focusing too much on Nanoha-chan meant she hadn't noticed Falin-chan come back in with tea, apparently having carefully picking her way through the cats. Gingerly she took the cup while Nanoha-chan did the same with her own, before sending Falin-chan off to do whatever she had to do next, leaving her alone with Nanoha-chan again.

The ensuing silence as they just drank tea was comfortable, something she greatly enjoyed and treasured given that most silences she'd been a part of were… quite uncomfortable. Eventually the silence was broken, surprisingly by Nanoha-chan, which _never_ happened in all the time they'd been friends.

"How have you been Suzuka-chan? Anything new happen while I've been occupied?"

A hard question... at least the second one was, the first one was easy, she'd been annoyed, worried and generally unpleasant since school ended. The second… there was almost no way to put this gently, so she'd have to say it, on top of her managing to barely make it back to school, thanks in part to having a perfect grade in P.E., she'd be moving with Kaa-sama, Onee-chan and several of the kobun to another city once the next semester was over… right after Christmas ended…

… She was allowed to be selfish, as well as not make Nanoha-chan sad. She was good at lying, she'd learned how to do that quickly to put up with Arisa.

"I've been good, nothing really has happened aside from Arisa-chan asking if I'd seen you and if you were alright."

"Ah, I'll have to go visit her and tell her I'm fine then."

A pang of jealousy went through her before she mashed it down to nothing, Nanoha-chan had come here first after all so she shouldn't be jealous that Arisa would be visited by Nanoha-chan. Even though Nanoha-chan was her friend first… and Arisa didn't deserve Nanoha-chan's concern.

"You should really get a phone Nanoha-chan, it would really help keep in touch."

The answer she received was expected, given that she got it _every_ single time she or Arisa tried in vain to get Nanoha-chan to get one.

"I'll think about it Suzuka-chan. Shouldn't we get back to the tea and enjoy ourselves?"

Nanoha-chan would always be Nanoha-chan, her first and only friend, who she selfishly lied to without a second thought and brought her happiness. Nanoha-chan, who didn't have a have a shred of anger and was always gentle like her smile.

She was a terrible person.

* * *

Well, while little Nanoha-chan was away, she might as well go check on the 'prisoners'. Honestly, given the state of Mid-Childa and the surrounding worlds, the girl wouldn't even face so much as a trial. Come to think of it, there hadn't been a trial since the Fleet Admiral became the Fleet Admiral, well before she was born. Haa…

Mid-Childa… It had been a long time since she'd gone back home, the last time had been to pick up Chrono after what was supposed to have been his graduation, that had been six years ago and had been when Chrono became an Ace… She'd given him his initiation and his Title, and so far he tried to stay as far away from it as he physically and mentally could, that title and the meaning behind it would lead him down a slippery slope should he embrace it as every Ace before them had done.

Even she had given into her Title, if only because she had _nothing_ else aside from that title and it kept her somewhat able to continue interacting with normal people. A dangerous game she and the other Aces played, but they had nothing else aside from fighting to look towards, and what would they be if they didn't at least try to maintain something for when the fighting eventually ended.

Anyway, she was getting off-topic, she had two little girls and a mother to talk with, two of which were familiars, not that that last part made much difference considering her connections to the Fleet Admiral.

There wasn't any reason for a guard really, the three kept to themselves and generally weren't making any trouble. That said 'protocol' dictated they should be guarded by someone, and if there was one thing her mentor had told her, it was that following protocol led to less headaches not caused by getting drunk.

… It'd been a long, _long_ time since she'd seen that old, axe-wielding drunkard, almost fifteen years now, not since the disaster that 'haunted' her and her little group of enforcers happened on Faurus. For a moment before she reached the screen designated as a door, she wondered if that woman was still alive, or if she had kicked the bucket… knowing the situation and who was in charge there, she expected the former. That _prick_ was the reason only a _thirtieth_ of her force was still here.

'Reinforcements are inbound in three minutes.' her ass, the man hated Aces… and pretty much anyone that wasn't one of his aides, and was just trying to get her killed while making it an accident. She'd _very_ much like to just use his baş as a qolfşar.

Pausing for a moment just as she was about to knock, mostly just to clear her thoughts for the first actual conversation she'd had with Fate… and to not accidently lapse back into Kyrtanha, she took a deep breath, before finally going to meet with the three with a knock.

A slightly muffled 'Come in' sounded from within, sounding older and far more mature than the other two… so likely the mother familiar, followed by her sliding the screen open and showing the same exact room that made up this house, only with different occupants. … It honestly surprised her that the Takamachi's had _nothing_ in the way of decorations… even a sword hanging or some mantra would have been appropriate but no, nothing but the essentials and a desk.

The cat-woman and mother of the two, was standing near the single desk in the room, back to the door doing something, doing something, while the other two occupants were on the bed 'huddled' together, one looking straight down at the floor and the other looking at her momentarily before going back to watching her sister. What a depressing atmosphere, not at all like what she enjoyed… well on top of that she might as well cheer up the little girl.

Introductions were in order, considering she didn't know any of them, and they really didn't know much about her aside from her name and the fact that she was a Admiral. That said, it'd be rude to be bunt and state her name… ah, that would work. "Would any of you care for some tea?"

The yellow-haired girl didn't so much as move in response to her question, the wolf-woman looking back at her with a 'angry' look to mask her worry before going back to her sister, as if something that fake would fool her, while the mother of the two calmly shook her head. "No, we're not tea-drinkers here Admiral. Little Arf likes coffee though if you have any."

Arf… she didn't even bat an eye at the simple name, considering she knew several with far more simple names, and had named her own device Bob. Besides it didn't matter too much, that was one introduction down, and two left to go. "I'm afraid we don't have any coffee here, us aboard the ship haven't had it for… three years now, and the family here only drink tea or water. I'll have to ask if they get some for her."

The cat-woman gave an absent nod of her head, still doing… whatever it was that she was doing standing at the desk, and letting the conversation drop completely… they weren't really a talkative people were they. "Introduction are in order I believe, can't call you two 'familiar' and her girl for the rest of our stay here." Once again she received a nod from the woman, and another, more curious yet still angry look from the wolf-girl… Saint-king, this was ridiculous. "I'm Admiral Lindy Harlaown, S-rank Ace of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, the Tea-drunk Berserker and pupil of the Ever-drunk Inferno."

Considering what she'd just said, she wasn't surprised when the woman stopped what she was doing, alongside the wolf-woman shifting protectively towards the still unmoving girl, the moment her second set of words were out of her mouth. Few people managed to get to S-rank or above, maybe a few hundred in the seventy years the Bureau had existed, besides that only Aces managed to attain that rank, no common soldier or enforcer managed to get there even with intensive experience and training… Then again, those ranks weren't dictated on one's power or mana level, at least not anymore.

After a minute of silent staring she brought Bob up and drank from him, sipping at the tea in a probably futile attempt to diffuse the tension… she probably shouldn't have said the three last lines, but it was habit to do so. Somehow, the cat-woman got over the fact that she was an Ace, and a dangerous one at that, and continued the introductions thankfully, it was annoying to watch civilians and strangers just freeze up at the simple mention of 'Ace'. "I am Rinith Testarossa, Familiar and wife to Precia Testarossa and mother to Fate, Alicia and Arf Testarossa."

Huh, not unexpected but a bit strange regardless, there was always some form of relationship between a Familiar and their mage, whether it be Master/Student, parent/child… she hadn't heard of a familiar marrying their master though and having or raising kids with them. Learn something new every week.

Regardless, she turned to the two girls on the bed… wait, why hadn't she noticed that Arf or Fate, whichever was the familiar of the two, was a girl Nanoha-chan's age now? She really hadn't checked up on them in the time since if that was new to her. Anyway, the familiar raised her head again to give her another look, carefully getting up from the bed while staying close to the other girl, and out came a strained 'polite' voice that barely lasted a full ten words. "I'm Arf, this is my big sister and 'master' Fate. We're the proud daughters of our Mothers Precia and Rinith."

Sisters. A lot less strange than being married to a familiar for sure, especially since she was technically sisters with one… or sisters-in-law to be precise… Anyway, Fate, Arf and Rinith, she knew them and they knew her now, at least name-wise, with pleasantries and introductions done, it was time for them to discuss exactly why they were on this… 'backwater world'.

So with another smile and sip of tea, she made her way over to the 'wall' connecting this room to another, just a bit further left down the corridor, and once there she finally asked the question. "Now that introductions are all in order, mind telling me exactly what you were after or hoping to accomplish from _breaking space_?" The two familiars shared a look between them, then almost in sync turned to regard Fate, who was still moping... and turned back to her before Arf decided to answer her.

"We were going to Al-Hazard, to revive our big sister and go back to a normal life again. The Jewel Seeds were the only thing Mother found that could possibly take us there, so we tried to get them. And you know how it ended _Admiral_." She'd heard and felt more venom in words before from secessionists, so Arf's little 'insult' wasn't that much of an issue and was easily ignored in favor of stewing over what was just said.

"I see." Not really, while she'd felt the pain of loss massively in her long life so far, she'd never once thought of trying to bring them back, or even considered it. Maybe it was due to some half-assed notion that she'd see them either in hell or the Saint-King's garden, or perhaps because she was so broken from seeing so many corpses, not that it mattered. "Now then… would you mind telling me _why_ you even needed to bring her back, or is that too sore a subject for you?"

This time it was Rinith that answered her question, though unfortunately with something that she would have preferred not to have. "Even though it's been over a decade since then, I'd rather not talk about Alicia's death. None of us will, _and that's final_." That was fine, and the emphasis on the last part really didn't need to be there, all the familiar had to say was that she didn't want to talk about it and everything would have been just fine.

"Alright, alright, I won't ask again. No need to be so hostile woman." … Now then, since there wasn't a mass of depression left from anyone but Fate, and she knew what exactly they had been doing, she could now at least try and cheer up the girl… probably unsuccessfully but it was worth a shot at least. "Fate. A pretty name, who picked it out for you?"

There were two immediate winces from Arf and Rinith, which immediately made her regret asking that, before the wolf-girl almost meekly gave a one-word response. "Alicia." … Oh come on! What, was she going to have to get the girl to be angry at her to get her up and moving?

… That wasn't that bad an idea actually. Now what would actually get Fate to not immediately hate her, and actually be strong enough to snap her out of her 'depression'… that would work.

"She was right to leave you behind." _That_ got a reaction out of Fate, head snapping up to glare at her with an intensity that mirrored her own when she was furious, as well as getting shocked looks from both Arf and Rinith, with the former quickly turning into anger.

" _What?_ " She didn't shout, or raise her voice, something she was quite grateful for considering she wasn't really fond of loud noises considering the past and her being drunk. Now with that said, she asked the wrong question, and she felt a little entitled to play a little with Fate after being ignored for the entirety of the conversation.

So it was with a small smile and a challenging look that she stared straight back into those furious red eyes, and prepared for a little bit of amusement for her own sake. It wasn't often that she got to indulge in it anymore, what with the status of the Bureau and the secessionists. "You heard me kiddo." And for an added 'insult' or whatever it was, she took another sip of tea from Bob and just waited for the inevitable retort. Any moment~

" _Why in Belka's name did you just say she's better off without us._ " And there it was, and what a temper too~ Now then, time to give the long-ass explanation that may or may not actually be understood by any of them.

"Well, to start off, to so much as _get_ to that mythical place you'd have to go through the dimensional space, gap, whatever it's called now. Doing that means you're at the level of an Ace or have something that's on par with an Ace, and then there's the actual trip, which is bound to be dangerous and quite possibly extremely long." There was point one, now to move on to point two… which was also the last point.

"Next there's whatever lies beyond the gap at Al-Hazard. Considering no one has ever been there, who knows what's there, or even if there _is_ anything." That was the truth of the matter, even if someone finally managed to get past the initial step, and then survived the journey over, whatever laid past that cold end them… not that any actually managed to get that far… probably.

"… Granted I suck at explaining things, and I'm not an expert on the subject so… I'll try and explain. Basically two people probably wouldn't have made it with that size, let alone four. It would be safer overall for one person to go, especially the one that has the higher chance to get your revival done, and since said person has a familiar, you'll know when she's gone if she fails."

"And how would you know that it's 'too small' for more than one person?" Within the anger, there was genuine curiosity, something of a surprise really given she expected there only to be anger, but even the two familiars were wanting to the know how… which was a problem. The answer to that question was… confidential for the most part, which led to her having to figure out how to say it, without giving too many details on the subject.

… She'd take a page from Nanoha and be vague for the most part, while still being truthful, which meant starting with a different little fact.

"You'd be surprised by the amount of people seeking Al-Hazard. There's always someone wanting to reach its halls for one reason or another, whether that be power, knowledge, pleasure, adventure, death. Given the sheer amount of people trying, I have reason enough to believe that it does exist, even if it's only a shadow of what our legends tell of it." There was now total confusion from Fate as she drank a bit of tea, considering she had seemingly ignored the question entirely, it was to be expected, but she still needed to move on before she could formulate a response.

"That said, there's always the first step that's basically made it impossible for everyone trying. 'Breaking through the dimensional gap'. There's been a few people that have managed to crack it, but never break it open like the storms do on occasion. And then the Bureau comes in, 'cleans them up' and goes on its merry sikilmiş way." Another sip of tea, another pause to let what she said sink in for the girl, as well as ignoring the glare sent at her from Rinith... She didn't expect the woman to know, or at least understand Kyrtanha, it rarely got spoken by anyone outside of Calnarog.

"Your Mother achieved that impossible task where everyone else failed. If she had all twenty-one of those Jewel Seeds, she'd likely have managed to break the gap _everywhere_ and bring Al-Hazard back to the Bureau… Probably at the cost of a planet or seven, but she'd have done it. Which means that she _will_ succeed where all others have failed, and reach Al-Hazard... Probably, still not an expert, and who knows how long the trip there is."

She gave a helpless, yet indifferent shrug at the end, finishing her tea cup a few moments later with a content sigh before walking back to the almost exact place she had when she'd entered the room. She really had only one last thing to say, hopefully it came out right as she wanted it to, rather than the mess she usually made for trying to cheer up Chrono-kun and any newbloods. "So keep your chin high and wait, Fate Testarossa. Your Mother will come back, with whoever 'Alicia' was/is and you'll have your peace again. Just keep waiting and we'll never need to look for that place again."

"What do yo-" Oh, it was almost time for her to go and get Chrono-kun for some training, or as he put it, 'a beatdown', and a few pointers on where his prosthetic could go better. She'd have to finish this talk later, probably tomorrow if she had nothing else, especially Nanoha-chan, to occupy her time.

"Ah, you must excuse me, I have some things to take care of. We'll talk again some time in the future if you want Fate-chan, Arf-chan, Rinith-san." And with a quick little bow, she turned around and left the room, leaving the three 'criminals' behind in various levels of dumbfoundedness. That always felt good to do, especially to the pricks thinking they could order her around when she was on the ground.

That had been a bit more insightful than the last time, she wasn't sure if it would persist, but at the very least Fate was moving and talking again. … For however long this was.

* * *

It was rare that she went to the library, she wasn't studious or even that interested in the subjects that they had there, but that was where she was right now. Why?

Nanoha-chan, always Nanoha-chan.

What it was Nanoha-chan wanted to get a hold of, she had no idea, but considering the alternative was staying at home… Nanoha-chan and the library was the better choice. Besides that, maybe the library had something interesting for her to read… maybe… hopefully.

So here she was, wandering amidst the many bookshelves looking for something to catch her eye, anything really to just… keep her occupied until school arrived again in the coming winter. The only thing she had found that really caught her eye were the Law and Government section, considering that Kaa-sama worked with them and she enjoyed Kaa-sama's duties it was a given.

Unfortunately, she didn't have much of a knack for understanding certain terms, which was why she now was wandering to look for Nanoha. That was when she saw a… peculiar sight.

A wheelchair-bound girl with short brown hair looking and pointing at random books on bookshelves, being moved about by a woman with _pink_ hair worn in a long ponytail… There wasn't anything else noteworthy enough about them to say really, given they were facing away from her and their clothing was nothing special.

That said… she was interested in the two, for one it was rather hard to find someone with that kind of strange hair, and she could do with a second friend… one that Kaa-sama didn't need to know about and wasn't 'tainted' by other's perceptions and opinions of her and Nanoha-chan.

So with that thought she started to make her way over… before immediately stopping as she tried to think up how she was even supposed to start this conversation… Should she say hello? Or should she ask if they needed help finding something? _Or_ should she ask how they were doing? … So many different ways to begin, and not a single idea on how to start.

"Is something wrong little girl?"

The woman's voice made her nearly jump in fright, especially since when she focused back to them, she found the girl looking at her with confusion and the woman not even looking at her. Couple that with the cold tone, she was justified for being scared… still she should at least try right?

"Umm… I was just… trying to think of how to start a conversation… I don't talk to many people."

"Is that so. Would you like to try and have a conversation with this girl, Hayate?"

What the woman said first should have been a question, yet with her tone it had sounded like just a statement. Yet the moment she started the second part, she turned her head to look at the girl and her entire voice changed, getting softer like Nanoha-chan's mother had done with her.

So was this woman the girl's mother then? And why was this 'Hayate' looking so excited… it was actually more intimidating than the woman's cold.

"Of course Signum! Why wouldn't I want to?"

She certainly didn't expect light laughter to so much as come from the woman, and yet it came as naturally as one would expect of an average person, making 'Hayate' blush and look down in slight embarrassment before looking back up. Who was she to judge that outburst considering she'd likely do the same if Nanoha-chan wasn't here?

Regardless, she walked up to them as calmly as she could muster, waited a few moments before trying to remember what she was supposed to do… Oh right, bow first, then say good afternoon and introduce yourself. So she did just that, giving a hopefully appropriate bow before speaking.

"Good afternoon. I'm Tsukimura Suzuka, what is your name?"

Right after that was when she realized she'd made a slight mistake… 'Hayate' couldn't really bow back given her condition, still if she noticed that or cared she didn't show and just went on.

"Good afternoon. I'm Yagami Hayate, but you can call me Hayate if you want. And this is Yagami Signum, my aunt."

"I will if you'll call me Suzuka, Hayate-chan. Are you looking for anything in particular here?"

Hayate nodded in response to the first, while the second just received a shake of the head, well that complicated and simplified things.

"Well… what do you particularly like?"

"Um, manga? Particularly, Mahou Shoujo and Shōnenones."

Manga? She'd… never heard of that genre before, or 'magical girl' and 'boy's comics'. With that said however, considering the names of the two she did know where they should be, at least the general area. She'd wandered over pretty much the entire library at this point, and while she hadn't paid much attention to the books she didn't like, she had found the children's section by complete accident, and immediately turned and walked off.

Children's tales of heroes, villains and monsters didn't bring out the 'wonder' in her like other children, idly she wondered for a moment if Nanoha was the same way before shaking her head. She couldn't be nodding off like Nanoha in front of her new friend, that would make a bad impression.

"I know where that is, if you would follow me, I'll lead you over there."

Of course, right after that a phone hummed lightly, surprising her that it wasn't nearly as loud as her own, said phone being pulled out by Signum before she put it to her ear and didn't say a word. Still without saying anything she lowered the phone, and put a annoyed and saddened look on her face as she looked over

"I must take my leave Hayate. Shamal has need of me at the store and Vita is being uncooperative as usual."

"Really, are you needed that badly?"

… Kami that voice sounded near broken, and it physically hurt to see her look up at Signum with defeat and complete sadness, and she was just a bystander.

"I am. I shall rush straight there, deal with the problem and rush straight back. Until then, I am sure Suzuka will keep you in good spirit."

That caused her to freeze, especially with the cold look once again directed on her, though this time it was more threatening and promised something she was certain she didn't want to experience. So she tried her best and turned what would have been a hasty nod to a normal one, catching a little one from Signum before the woman turned back to Hayate.

"I'll be back soon."

"I'll be waiting."

A simple exchange, and off Signum went, turning and walking at a brisk pace towards what she assumed was the door before turning around a corner. Since it was just her and Hayate, um… was it common courtesy to ask if Hayate needed help, or would that just

"Do you need an-"

"No I don't, I'll be fine."

Hayate's voice was little more aggressive in response to that, and immediately she backed off the issue, turned about and started walking, only to stop when she heard nothing. Turning back around, she tilted her head in confusion when she saw the girl look at her feet downcast for a moment, she probably was used to people leaving after the aggression. Well, for once she'd be selfless, if a bit selfish as well, and help her likely friend.

So it was for that reason that she spoke in a confusion-filled, questioning tone, immediately making Hayate's head dart up in surprise.

"Aren't you going to follow me?"

"Y-Yes, I'm coming."

She didn't say anything else, just nod as Nanoha usually did, and continue walking, this time with the sound of wheels clicking behind her. Considering she only knew the general area of where everything was supposed to be, alongside wanting to know where Nanoha-chan was, she leisurely led Hayate along the 'corridors' formed from the shelves, idly looking over the books with disinterest before moving on to the next.

After maybe seven minutes she finally found the correct section, judging by the fact that the books went from novels and textbooks to… whatever these were, and Hayate was now looking attentively over everything with a wide range of emotions ranging from disgust and hate to intrigue and 'hunger'.

Considering this was apparently the right place, she stopped, looked at the mass of strange… books and tried to find one she might enjoy. Easier said than done considering the wide range of works she saw, but she did try. Of course, her not finding anything drew Hayate over to her, two books sitting in her lap, and what followed ended up being basically a reversal of just a few minutes before.

"What do _you_ like to read Suzuka-chan?"

With that question, she was left with two choices, lie and say something completely random that she'd heard other people talk about, or be truthful and outright state she enjoyed something that was… very strange. Being truthful was probably best, even if it was a little white lie, people didn't like being lied to, and she'd just met Hayate.

"… I like reading about Laws and Government."

Hayate's face went blank for a moment, nothing showing until a bit of concentration took hold and she turned about, looking up at the shelves with a searching look, as she followed along. Another minute of searching before Hayate pulled out a book near to the floor, turned and held it out to her, which was taken after a moment of surprise.

It… it had a white-haired, red-eyed girl on the front, which wasn't physically possible, on her knees with a sword by her breasts wearing _something_ blue and red. Regardless, the name of it was Madan no Ou Vandis, or _Lord Marksman and Vandis_ , and considering that Hayate had gone almost straight to it, she may as well give it a shot.

Right as she decided that, she was interrupted in her thoughts by Hayate speaking again.

"I haven't personally read it, but I read the excerpt and it seems to be near what you like, if in a different time period. Lots of politics and stuff in there, at least there should be, and a bit of romance and action as well."

"I see… Would you like to sit down and read until your aunt comes back?"

"Sure! Uh, where's the nearest table?"

… That was a good question.

Yet another helpless shrug, and a responding sigh from Hayate was how that conversation ended. After a couple of seconds they walked, or in Hayate' case, rolled, away and down two corridors before they saw and went over to a basic wood table. Being courteous she pulled one of the chairs and set it a little ways away for Hayate to sit at the table, not receiving anything in thanks but that was somewhat expected, before she sat down herself.

Before going into the book she'd been given, she took a brief few seconds to look over at what Hayate had picked up for herself. The first was a rather… poor quality artwork, though that could be just from age, there was a blonde-haired girl with two ponytails, wearing something similar to a school uniform and in a pose. The second… was a bit stranger, having a little girl, barely older than five from the picture, once again with two auburn ponytails, on the cover, and unlike the other one there was barely anything but the border on that one.

Feeling a bit curious she asked her companion a simple question about the books, specifically the one that was open in front of her.

"What are you reading Hayate-chan?"

"An older Mahou Shoujo manga called Sailor Moon. It's rather good, but nothing you would like I assume. I'm just re-reading it from the start now."

"Alright. What about the other one?"

For whatever reason Hayate decided to ignore that question and bury herself back into her book, though she had a faint… 'blush' she believed dusting her cheeks. She didn't understand why that happened, but considering the earlier, almost outburst, she wasn't about to pry again and chose to just start reading.

" _Rozen Maiden_."

The quiet voice almost didn't get heard due its volume and the fact that she was into her book, but considering her own voice being low and the fact that she was used to silence, she still managed to hear the words, for the most part.

Of course, to play 'normal' she had to pretend not to have heard it, and would have to ask what she said, as well as what it was. Ha, this was a pain, she never had to do this with Nanoha-chan... then again Nanoha-chan was Nanoha-chan.

"What was that?"

"I said it's called Rozen Maiden. A girl drops out of highschool after being persecuted in class for… _reasons_ , and works mostly as a dressmaker. Eventually she finds a sentient doll who's participating in a deathmatch royale with six other dolls and they go about fighting one another to become 'Alice', or the perfect doll. It is something you would very much, _not_ enjoy Suzuka-chan."

… That kind of sounded like the way Nanoha-chan was treated, though she actually didn't even notice the 'persecution' that much. Considering that, she was somewhat interested in reading it, if only because of the similarities to her own friend and the summary Hayate gave piqued her interest.

"Is that the first volume?"

The question probably came out of nowhere for Hayate, who was already back into 'Sailor Moon', considering she nearly jumped in surprise when it came out. Blinking her eyes twice, Hayate stared at her for a while before shaking her head in… something, either confusion or denial.

"This is the fifth volume, are you sure you want to read this?"

Was she sure? Not really, but then again, she wasn't sure about most things, preferred to lie than to tell the truth and wasn't the best with other people. Besides that, with how evasive she was being, her interest was mounting about why Hayate seemed to not want another person to know about it.

"As sure as I was to try this genre and book."

"Well alright then. I'll go back and get the first one, though I'm still certain you won't like it."

She was certain she wasn't going to as well, even still she was curious and that enough was reason to at least try and read it. Of course, her musing made her miss Hayate leave to get the book, though she could still hear her roll back towards where they had gotten the other three books. She might as well continue the other book until Hayate got back, it was rather good, even if it was a bit… strange at first.

After about two minutes Hayate came back with another book in her lap, which was quickly deposited in front of her before Hayate went back to her own spot. Putting her own book aside for a moment, quickly noticing how far she was and marking the place, she looked over the cover of the first book of Rozen Maiden. It, it wasn't any more detailed than the fifth, the same doll was sitting on strange throne with thorns curling about her, but still she took the time to ope…

… Huh, she didn't know two girls could kiss one another on the lips.

"If you don't like it I'll take it back."

Hayate's voice cut through her thoughts, making her focus back on the girl. For once she had no little thought to try and even lie, probably because she was just completely confused by this little picture in the 'book'

"I'm just confused, I didn't know two girls could be in a… what's the word?"

"Relationship?"

"Yes, that word. I didn't know that."

That wasn't exactly unexpected for her considering her upbringing, she'd just assumed from Onee-chan and Nanoha's brother, as well as Kaa-sama and Tou-san, that relationships were only between men and women, not man and man or woman and woman. Huh, maybe she was like that, she did like Nanoha-chan a lot… but was that friendship or 'love'?

She'd have to learn more about it another time, she needed to pay attention to Hayate, who for some reason was looking confused as if this wasn't something she was used to.

"Well… It's not like it's encouraged. Most people tend to look down on those people and don't associate with them."

"Really? That's no different than how me and my friend are treated… and the other girl too."

At the exact moment she finished she had a feeling something was wrong, watching Hayate's face change from confused to excited confirmed the feeling. Knowing something was about to happen, she prepared herself for what was to come, hopefully it would just be something like Arisa's 'big' outbursts.

Thankfully it was like it, to a lesser degree, as few actually managed to reach Arisa's level of emotion.

"YES! Another person that understands!"

"Please quiet down, or else they'll kick us out."

"Oh… Sorry…"

Seeing someone excited immediately 'change gears' to 'depressed' was always strange to watch, considering how polar opposites those two were. Becoming shy and not speaking for the next few moments made her go back to her first book, and Hayate back to hers shortly after.

Unfortunately, she wasn't able to read more than a few more pages before Signum came back, walking towards them without a single way to tell she was tired or winded.

"I apologize for being late Hayate, Vita was being _very_ uncooperative. I see you two are getting along well."

Both her and Hayate gave nods to the latter statement, and thankfully Hayate cheered up to just normal shyness the moment Signum started talking, taking her two books from the table and laying them in her lap before backing away from the table. Of course, that set of actions caught her guardian's attention, with the woman giving a smile before speaking again.

"I see you found your new books. We'll have to see if we can get copies somewhere else for the library. I trust that she was good?"

The question at the end was addressed towards her instead of Hayate, something she wasn't particularly prepared for, but nonetheless answered after a moment of hesitation.

"She was good, only a single outburst that needed to be quieted."

"I see, thank you for taking care of her."

She gave a simple bow in response to that, before noticing Hayate was fidgeting a little in her chair, at least she did before she noticed her attention directed towards herself. Then she started playing with her hands before looking up with a 'hopeful?' expression and finally asked what was on her mind.

"Um, would you like to be my friend, Suzuka-chan?"

… YES! She made a good impression, and Hayate-chan wanted to be her friend now! Thankfully for her own 'dignity' she refrained from expressing her joy for everyone to hear, instead managing to settle on a soft smile that made Hayate-chan give a smile in return. And then Hayate's expression changed again from soft to bright and happy again the moment she gave her reply.

"Yes, I would very much like that Hayate-chan."

"Yea, that makes two friends made today!"

"Two?"

"Oh, I met another girl before you, she had hazel hair tied like Signum's, pretty, deep blue eyes and was dressed in a kimono. There was a smile on her face the entire time and she helped get some books for me to read from the high shelves."

Nanoha-chan… this girl who she'd just met had met Nanoha-chan just before, or a bit before she'd met her. That was… actually convenient, and would help in having Hayate be a bit more comfortable with her, considering that Nanoha-chan was a bit more off-putting than herself.

"You met Nanoha-chan?"

"Was that her name? She didn't give her name, but she did help me get stuff while Signum was off doing other things. and I'd like to say we're friends."

Oh. That would be Nanoha-chan, helping others for no real reason and not actually asking for anything in return… she was strange and straight-forward like that.

"Yea. She's friends with you, if she so much as did anything helpful for you, she'll consider you a friend until the world ends. Or you make her angry at you. Whichever comes first."

Hayate positively beamed when she was finished, so much so that she was once more almost afraid of her for having that much positivity and happiness. She wasn't afraid of Signum anymore, the woman was more like Nanoha's mother than her own Kaa-sama, cold to strangers and warm to those she liked.

"Anyway, if you want to talk, come over and visit or want to get in contact with Nanoha, just call, and I'll be there."

Another beaming smile, thankfully less bright as she would have gone further into fear if she'd done that. And with that she gave a hesitant wave, one she received a returning wave from Hayate-chan, before turning and going off to find Nanoha-chan.

It was getting late, and Kaa-sama and Nanoha-chan's father would be upset, annoyed or disappointed with them if they weren't back for curfew.

* * *

Few were the times when she was ever alone, even here where she had nothing to do, and an entire forest she could hide in, there was almost zero time due to having to make sure Chrono-kun and her crew was fine, training with and teaching Nanoha a few little things she'd learned from her own Mentor, trying and failing to understand the family. Between all of that, she was busy, and hadn't had a proper talk with Bob since before the clusterfuck happened.

Seeing as how Nanoha hadn't bothered her all day due to her going to visit her friend, and the first thing she did upon getting home was go and sleep… she actually had a little time to herself. And that was quite nice after everything that had happened.

"It's been a while since we've had a conversation to ourselves, huh Bob?" The teacup in her hands thrummed lightly in response, making her quirk a smile. If there was one thing that she quite enjoyed about him, aside from being able to make tea whenever she wanted, it was that she could confide in him, just as she did with Clyde once, and he'd help by discussing the options with her.

It was nice having A.I. with a personality rather than some computer that would spout off generic phrases, she was sure the other Aces would agree, if only because only the Devices could understand them anymore, aside from another Ace. " _Indeed it has, your ladyship. Not since we picked up the young Lord have we had the chance to talk again. Always barging in to report whenever we're about to talk. He'll make a fine man one day."_ "That he will, that he will."

For a few moments they lapsed into comfortable silence, before she broke it with a light humming of some half-forgotten lullaby she should have sung to Chrono when he was younger. Who had taught her it? Couldn't have been the old drunkard, she was too engrossed in violence, drink and smithing to have ever considered learning some lullaby. And before that the matrons of the orphanage never had the energy to recite the lullaby after each day.

And besides that she'd only once tried to look up the lullaby, and that had ended up with her being off to become a soldier somehow… that had been a strange day, but being honest it was a good one, minus murdering a thief in the middle of the plaza with blacksmith hammer. That hadn't been her best moment, but it led her to meeting her Mentor and then to Clyde.

After a few more moments she trailed off as she hit the part she never remembered, the only part that housed lyrics, as all Calnarog lullabies did, before speaking again to her Device, Teahammer and friend. "Have you had any luck finding the lullaby Bob?" She was graced with a reply instantly, " _I have not your ladyship, the count has been lowered to four now however. I'll have found it by the time we believe the lanes to have stabilized."_

"Thank you, Bob." A quick reply of 'you're welcome' sounded before they were back to gentle quiet. The moon was high and full, something she'd rarely seen from the ground, and the sounds of night were mute for the moment, which made the night all the better to enjoy this talk. Another question rose amidst the few she had to ask, a simple one that would take a little bit for Bob to answer as he gathered his thoughts together. "What do you think of our hosts?"

For several long seconds everything was silent, before finally Bob answered while still keeping his polite tone. " _The man hides something. Many things from our conversations with him. He hides from us and likely his children as well. The boy is nothing special, a child who's seen terrible things and refuses to ever speak of them again._ "

A pause sounded as her device deliberated over the two she wanted to know his opinion of, before finally he spoke again, though with a noticeably different tone, more serious and deeper. " _The elder girl is broken, much like an Ace yet without a single shred of humanity to hold on to. Yet due to that she's_ wrong _compared to Aces, more human and yet not. The younger… she will be an Ace, possibly one to rival the Reaper. She will come with us when the time comes, there's nothing for her here to learn and do._ "

Accurate to what she thought of the girls and boy, though the man was a surprise, she knew he was hiding something, not multiple things. Well, it wasn't anything she needed to pry about, considering that she'd probably never see the man again after the lanes were done repairing themselves, which was somewhat depressing as she really wished to see the cherry blossoms fall several times and marvel in their beauty.

Now another question, now that Bob had seen her child grow up, argue with her and generally live. "What do you think of Chrono, Bob?" There was barely any pause this time, in comparison to the others, probably because he'd saved up his thoughts of Chrono for years now. _"The boy is no Ace, not yet. It will take your death or the death of his grandfather and aunt for him to take his title._ " Haa… no mincing words apparently, still he was being truthful, he always had.

Yet, he wasn't done yet apparently, something that surprised her for a moment before remembering that he'd been watching Chrono since the latter's incident. " _He is still human, not an Ace, and though he's skilled, as he currently is he will only be a burden and worthless in combat. With his past actions after the latest incident however, he's moving towards his title, if unwillingly. Nothing is as cold-blooded as a machine after all, right your ladyship?_ "

"You and your kind are certainly not as cold-blooded as a regular machine then, even if you are made for our trade." Her device gave off a chuckle at that, something she hadn't heard in a long time, not since she'd married Clyde and told him. Meaning he was greatly entertained by her quip for whatever reason, strange. " _Well that is certainly true your ladyship. Then again, we Intelligent Devices and you Aces never followed the rules when it came down to it._ " "That is true, never did care for the rules or those that enforce them. Only followed them because it's easier than having to exert the 'Ace' card."

Another comfortable silence among many came after her words, Bob waiting for her to ask another question of him, as he had always done before, finally she came up with one last question to ask, one that was more a curiosity than anything of importance. "Would you serve Chrono if I were to pass?"

The silence afterwards was no longer comfortable, as Bob waited or refused to answer the question, before finally answering with a simple statement. " _Each device crafted by an Ace is bound to their Ace, they will avenge their owner should that be within their power, but otherwise, an Ace's Device dies with them, and no one will wake us from our unending slumber._ " "So the answer's no?"

" _Correct._ " Expected, her device, and those of other Aces, was _extremely_ stubborn when it came to others handling him, the only one that she'd seen that remotely allowed anyone to touch him in Device form besides his wielder was Excalibur… and that was more from Clyde's own good nature rubbing off on the device enough. With that said however, the fact that she managed to get 'avenge their owner' from him meant he _was_ willing to work with Chrono in the future should she kick the bucket.

Well, there wasn't much left for them to discuss, not like there were any combat strategies to cook up, spells to make or improve or men she needed to keep an eye on. The first she didn't have to worry about until they made it back to the Bureau, the last she'd lost with the _prick_ and hadn't had to deal with any more bullshit since. The second… there came a point in every Ace's short life where they decided they didn't need anything else, and would just refine that which they already had.

Regardless of those things and the conversation, she and Bob lapsed into another silence, filled only with the almost silent sound of her own breathing and the little creak of wood under her weight. She'd enjoy this calm, and eventually she'd retire and be able to have days made for this kind of talk with Bob, only with more tea, there always needed to be more tea.

One last time she looked up at the full moon, bathing her in moonlight as she drank from her teacup again, a single thought idly rising to the forefront before hastily being snatched as she calmly walked back to the room she was supposed to be sleeping in. "It's almost time Bob…"

"… for our old friends to come back."


	14. Ascent I

_Amount of Hugs needed: 11,375 ([(6865+8417+7477+7368+7010+7653+{7846-7-20-21=7798}+{6453-25-9-9-5-4-4-4-7-15=6371}+{9183-15-13-12-9-4=9130}+132+{11184-1-5-15=11163}+7828+{7141-9-44-7-31-17-12=7021}+9744+{9787-15=9772})/10 - Round up]_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 5,377_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

The last month of the dying year came about amidst a period of snowfall, something that was a rare time here, and as the year slowly came to its end, so too did school and the wait for her blade.

Aside from making a few 'new' spells, she hadn't really made much progress in magic, having for the most part difficulty in grasping who to change her mana to an element, something Harlaown-sama had said was normal and took a few months at the least to get an inkling of success. Otherwise the only thing she worked on was making sure her skill with a blade was as perfect as it could be, which mostly meant hacking away at dummies due to Otou-sama getting sick with something and Harlaown-sama teaching her other subjects.

Sure, he did everything that he had been doing, teaching at the dojo a bit further into town, watching over the soccer team he had and took care of the home, but he no longer kept up with her in practice and actively avoided the activity. That said, he did take the time to instruct her in the basics of Iaijutsu, not that he was an expert or even moderately good at it nor did she even think she'd be using that style given the likely size of her blade, as was customary for their branch before the incident.

Anyway, there was only a little progress truly made in anything she tried to accomplish, she'd made the upgrades to her augments, though she still needed to get them under control to not impede her after long usages, she'd managed to learn how to break binds, and she'd thought up the basis of what her newest augment would do. Unfortunately, those were the only things she'd managed to do in the time since the Jewel Seed Incident… and it greatly annoyed her.

Likely whenever she finished learning under Harlaown-sama and finished the last set of augments, she'd stop learning and making new spells, because while she was quite patient, the lack of progress grated on her.

Aside from her training and learning nothing particularly had happened, well there was Suzuka-chan and the girl she helped at the library that one time, Hayate-chan was her name, a sweet girl when she was with people she liked, and quite aggressive to those she didn't like, kind of like Arisa-chan. Nothing really… happened with them, aside from just doing unimportant things together, a tea party, some bouts of reading, those two laughing as she struggled against Suzuka-chan's many cats.

The only important thing that actually came from those was meeting Hayate-chan's guardian, a stern, cold woman with pink hair and blue eyes. She didn't ever learn her name, or if she did she had forgotten it by now, but what she _did_ remember was the woman had made her promise, or was it a threat?

" _If you so much as hurt a hair or feeling of Hayate without good reason, I_ will _cut you down."_

Meh, not like it mattered, unless she did something by accident, she wouldn't hurt Hayate-chan in the slightest, and besides that she should be able to fend off the woman without difficulty, unless she was a mage, then she had a much lower chance of winning that. The chances of that were low though, as whatever the 'lanes' Harlaown-sama talked about hadn't repaired themselves yet, though they were getting close, and Mages couldn't travel without a 'stable lane'.

Yuuno-san taught her a few new things in that time as well, mostly just a few trivial things as their time together wasn't as often as it used to be. There were eighty-three worlds administrated by the Bureau, each had their own dominant language in addition to speaking Mid-Childan… or English as it was, how that language was the same as one here was a mystery she didn't really care about.

And at one point they had all been under the control of some Kingdoms, collectively called Belka, some centuries prior to the Bureau's founding. Not that that made any difference now, most Belkan people apparently were killed or scattered to the corners by 'incredibly angry' denizens of the planets they ruled.

She had wondered briefly if Razing Heart came from that Era, considering she normally talked about Kings and Queens, and from what she heard the last of those had been forced to abdicate after Belka fell. Well, it really didn't matter that much if her device was from that era, it wasn't as if such a thing would make any difference now or in the future.

Anyway, having gotten off-track again, she focused back to her original thoughts, namely the last few things she'd done. She had visited Fate-san onc… no, twice, and had ended up being punched in the face both times by Arf-san, neither of which hurt, but the second one had her use the new defensive augment, aptly named Eisenmauer. The result of which had Arf holding her hand in pain after punching her in the face, and a faint glimmer of amusement welling up in her.

The last thing she'd done was take Harlaown-sama to visit her old friends… mostly due to pestering after she learned that she had any friends. That woman was as terrible as a toddler when she wanted something, only she knew how to get her way in addition to be incessant and not push too much. The result… went a lot better than one would expect.

* * *

 _This would either go over terribly or decently, there was no other option considering how Arisa-chan was. She might be friendly and caring when it came to her and Suzuka-chan, but Arisa-chan was… not fond of others. At all._

 _She'd asked Arisa-chan and Suzuka-chan for lunch at the café they'd last gone to, back when she'd given an apology for not going to the hot springs and they'd taken her there afterwards. It wasn't the best café… at least she didn't think so since it was one of three she'd been to, but it was nice, not very crowded, and generally you could talk without a single person overhearing._

 _Harlaown-sama was wearing a different set of clothing today as they headed to the café, rather than the standard dress uniform she normally carried herself in, an orange and white kimono dotted with cherry blossoms, sandals and a burgundy gem on a cord of thin metal was what she decided to walk around in. Herself? She wore just a blank white kimono and normal straw sandals, nothing too fancy. Considering their garb, it was unsurprising for them to be receiving some strange looks, not that either of them paid much attention... the Admiral was quite oblivious to everything around her._

 _She walked into the little café's outdoor pavilion, the Admiral in tow right behind with her tea cup present as always, and quickly chose one of the tables close to the door, having no desire to go and walk to the back pavilion. A waitress came out quickly once the both of them were seated, Harlaown-sama to her left with her back to the gate, leaving Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan their customary spots. Suzuka-chan to the right, where she could always see the entrance for whatever reason, and Arisa-chan across from her, ready to get up in the case someone tried to get them._

 _Her friends were strange in that way, but it was tiny things and not worth wondering why._

" _What can I get for you this morning?"_

" _Green tea please, and a single cup of white as well if you have it."_

 _An absent-minded nod from the woman, as she wrote down the order on a little pad, turning to her guest as she was about to finish and asked. "And for you Ma'am?"_

" _I've been helped already, thank you though."_

" _Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes."_

 _And with that they were left alone, with Harlaown-sama sipping from her teacup with a delighted expression plastered on her face, which quickly faded as she turned towards her, sighed and finally spoke to her. "Well might as well talk about it while we're alone."_

"… _Considering I know you have at least two physical augments, I'll just get the lecture over with while we're alone." Quietly a sigh was let out as she pulled the teacup away "According to Article III of the Nesaian Armistice, no mages or knights may develop any new augments affecting the user's body. Considering you have broken that, and never knew of the law due to being raised here, you'll get a warning whenever we go back to the Bureau if you decide to come with us."_

 _Article and Armistice. The former implied that there were_ several _other binding articles in addition to the three that was confirmed, while the latter once again gave her the impression that a War had been waged, or was being waged at some point. Which made sense from the few bits of information Harlaown-sama spoke about in 'private'. "There are a lot of rules where you're from."_

" _Haa… Yes, yes there are. And they have good reason, considering only a fraction of a percent of the Bureau's forces can use what the rules apply to. The rules are there mostly for the sake that we don't lose any men or women to stupid training mishaps. Normal individuals can't handle the strain of restructuring or reinforcing their bodies, myself included in that." … Well, most people didn't have very high pain tolerance, so that wasn't_ too _far-fetched, and even with her own she felt the strain on her body from her augments._

 _She understood why that rule in particular was there, even though she didn't like it being in place. "So, how man-"_

" _Nanoha-chan!" Somehow, Arisa-chan had the single best timing to interrupt whenever she would want it. Discarding the thought immediately after, she stood up from her chair, and turned to greet her friends, only to be immediately tackled into a hug by Arisa-chan… oh yea, the last time she'd seen Arisa-chan was the end of school, it made sense for her to do this._

 _Seeing no other option aside from stand still, she calmly returned the hug and gave a "Good morning." to both Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan. Of course, the moment that Harlaown-sama made noise getting up, both her friends instantly focused on her, with Arisa-chan being the first to say something._

" _Who're you?" And Arisa-chan started the exact way she normally did when confronted with someone new. At least it was predictable, and Harlaown-sama_ shouldn't _be mad with the blunt question. By the time her thought was finished Suzuka-chan was with them, and Arisa-chan had released her from the hug, to stare down Harlaown-sama… not the best idea, but she didn't know any better._

 _Given that she had a smile on her face, and sipped from her cup, she was correct in that assumption, if anything Harlaown-sama looked amused by the blatant disrespect and looked ready to humor her. "Harlaown Lindy, a friend of Nanoha-chan's Tou-san. And it's polite to say your own name before you ask a stranger where I'm from."_

" _I'm Arisa. That's all you need to know." She still didn't understand why Arisa-chan disliked her last name so much, only that she preferred being called Arisa over anything else, and so much as saying 'Bunnings' had resulted in numerous cases of 'assault'. Anyway, Arisa-chan pretty much settled into a 'aggressive' posture, a scowl set on her face and her body tensed as it always was to people other than her and Suzuka-chan. Likely in the event that Arisa-chan got mad enough to punch someone, as usual._

 _Suzuka-chan shifted slightly when Harlaown-sama looked over at her, looking down for a moment before meekly giving her name. "Tsukimura Suzuka. Nanoha-chan's first friend." After that was said Suzuka-chan moved directly behind her, probably uncomfortable with the new person introduced to her, not that she minded or was surprised, Harlaown-sama was someone a person was never ready for._

" _Well it's a pleasure to meet both of you. Nanoha-chan speaks highly of both of you from our little talks. Let's have a seat, the waitress should be coming back with Nanoha-chan's tea in just a moment." With that said Harlaown-sama went and sat down again, leaving her, Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan standing for a moment before she went and sat as well, her friends following after another moment of indecision._

 _Until the waitress came over again with her cup of tea, the table was completely silent, Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan both staring at Harlaown-sama while Harlaown-sama ignored them completely to savor her own tea._

 _Wasting no time and not even batting an eye at the two new arrivals, the woman set down her tea in front of her before turning to Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan, politely giving a smile before asking, "What would the two of you like?" With that question said, a few moments passed as both Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan thought over what they wanted before Suzuka-chan gave an answer, shortly followed after by Arisa-chan._

" _Green tea please."_

" _Black tea."_

" _Alright. It will be out momentarily." And with that the woman left and they were left to themselves again, and yet again silence reigned unopposed as none of them spoke._

 _Finally, Suzuka-chan of all people decided to break the silence by asking a little question, thankfully having gotten slightly less timid since Harlaown-sama did absolutely nothing but smile pleasantly and sip tea. "Um, Harlaown-san, how did you meet Nanoha-chan?"_

 _Harlaown-sama barely reacted to the question, merely closing her eyes in thought as she continued another drink of her tea. After a few moments more of silence the cup was lowered and her eyes opened, placing the cup on the table before replying. "Let's see, I was working on a job to find a few treasures, and happened to run into Nanoha-chan during my search here. We didn't get along at first glance, and it took a few days before we were on decent terms with one another."_

… _Basically the summary of their first encounter, excepting the actual details, she hadn't expected that to be said, though a half-truth was better than a full lie, Suzuka-chan had a knack for finding those. Of course, before Harlaown-sama could continue, Arisa-chan decided to interrupt her with a forceful and slightly aggressive tone. "Are you the reason she had a broken leg back then?" A single eye was raised in response to the question, exactly why it did was something she didn't know nor cared too much about, a moment taken for Harlaown-sama to take another sip of tea to Arisa-chan's frustration and a sigh from Suzuka-chan._

" _She had a broken leg before I met her, not sure how long before, but it was recent at the time." Arisa-chan didn't 'calm down' even remotely with that appeasement, something that was quickly noticed apparently since the Admiral decided to move on seemingly without a second thought. "Anyway, I met with her father a few years before on a business venture of his, and due to certain complications happening on this job, I and several people that work for me are currently staying at Nanoha-chan's property until we can go back home."_

" _How long until then?"_

" _I have no idea, probably until Winter's end, maybe into Spring. Not that we mind, home's not that nice a place currently and it's nice to finally take a few days off... or in this case months. Besides that, I plan on staying until the cherry blossoms fall, I'm annoyed that I missed them this year." Somehow that managed to make Arisa-chan lift the aggressiveness from her posture, and even made Suzuka-chan smile a bit, though the smile was short-lived until Suzuka-chan looked at her. There were so many things she didn't understand, why Suzuka-chan always smiled when she looked at her was just one of the many._

 _Another silence descended on them, unlike the other two however this one wasn't tense, much more comfortable like she was used to hearing in the forest. Eventually though the silence ended as it always did, once again Suzuka-chan being the one to break it with a bit of shifting around and a single question addressed to her guest. "Um… is that your normal hair color, Harlaown-san?"_

" _Yes, yes it is. It's not that common where I'm from… then again neither is violet hair, Suzuka-chan." Immediately in response to that, Suzuka-chan ducked her down to stare at the ground, causing Harlaown-sama to near-instantly place her head in her hands and groan slightly, which made all three look straight at her as she went off track. "I can't be this bad at small talk... That's four times now since we got here and all of those were with completely different people…"_

" _Eh, don't let it bother you, she probably just doesn't know how to respond." … She should be used to surprises by now, Arisa-chan being the one to 'comfort' someone else outside of her, or in rare cases Suzuka-chan, was unheard of. Regardless it happened and Harlaown-sama let out a sigh before going back to almost bright and cheerful, picking her head up to look at Arisa-chan with a questioning look._

"… _How can she-"_

 _Before Harlaown-sama could finish, Suzuka-chan interrupted her by talking, looking slightly downcast as she probably answered the unfinished question. "The first time I met someone outside of my Okaa-san and Onee-chan was Nanoha-chan, and that was when I was seven."_

" _Ah, that explains it. Well I apologize for that Suzuka-chan, if I had known that I wouldn't have said that." Suzuka-chan's face turned slightly red at her cheeks, before she ducked her head, Arisa-chan immediately holding her hand up to her face before devolving into giggling, an action that caused Suzuka-chan to redden even further and_ glare _at Arisa-chan as the giggling turned to light laughter._

 _Once Arisa-chan settled down, with Harlaown-sama looking as lost as she had been the entire conversation, Suzuka-chan turned back to the mage, still with a bit of red on her cheeks, and stuttered out a quick reply. "I-it's a-alright." And with that Harlaown-sama gave a quick nod, sat back and quietly drank her tea, leaving her and her friends in quiet before they got into some random conversation about what was going on, what future plans were happening soon, and other general small-talk._

 _Eventually though, after about an hour they had to end this nice, peaceful tea time, Arisa-chan had to go back to her family, and Suzuka-chan had to return back home to her mother, sister and maids. Which left one last thing to do before they left and parted ways, paying for the tea, unfortunately the moment she tried to pull out some money, Arisa-chan decided to immediately 'shift gears' and go after her._

" _No! You're not paying Nanoha, you always pay whenever me or Suzuka take you anywhere. I'm paying this time and that's final!" … So she did, because she had nothing else to spend her money on, she didn't like to shop for new clothing, she didn't like jewelry of any kind besides Razing Heart, and she didn't have any hobbies that required her to spend money to do. And even though she paid for_ every _time, she still managed to build up a sizeable amount of money that was just going to waste, while Suzuka-chan had next to no spending money, and Arisa-chan had numerous things she enjoyed doing that required it._

" _Just let her Nanoha-chan, you can pay the next time if you want to. Just humor her this time." Haa… fine… Considering there were two people against her doing it, and Suzuka-chan would take neither side, she might as well concede_ this _time, maybe slip the amount needed back into Arisa-chan's bag the next time they were at school. Yes, that would work, as long as she didn't get caught doing it._

 _Without a single sigh she looked back at Arisa-chan and gave a quick "Alright.", making her blink several times in confusion before giving her a strange look, as if she expected her to make a fuss or argue like they usually did. The look was gone quickly, replaced with a light grin as she fished out some money from her bag, counted the bills needed and took the check to the register, leaving the rest of them to get up and walk over to the gate._

 _They didn't wait long for Arisa-chan to come almost-skipping back, obviously happy with herself considering she_ never _did anything remotely 'girly' without being oblivious to it, and with that they had to part ways. Harlaown-sama said a quick goodbye to Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan, something she was going to copy shortly, but before that… she had a single question to ask her friends._

" _Did you find this enjoyable Arisa-chan, Suzuka-chan?" The question probably seemed to come out of nowhere for them, yet neither of them jumped or looked surprised, Arisa-chan just scrunching up her face in thought while Suzuka-chan looked over to Arisa-chan. Well, that helped her know who would be the first to answer._

 _After a half-minute of thought, Arisa-chan finally spoke, a bit of grudgingly made joy apparent in her voice as she answered. "Well, there's finally an adult that treats me as just Arisa instead of 'Ms. Bunnings', 'the next Genius' or whatever name or title they give me next. I may even begin to like her if she doesn't compare me to someone." That didn't answer the question really… but she'd continue with it and ask another question, if only to try and get back to the original question._

" _So, you like her?" A small bout of silence ensued after that before her second friend shook her head, a frown coming in for a moment before it quickly disappeared._

" _Not yet… she's better than most adults and that's enough reason to begin to like her, maybe after a while I'll like her. Aside from that yes, it was enjoyable finally seeing and talking with you again." Both of them almost nodded in sync, why Arisa-chan decided to was a mystery and not one she bothered to spend time on, instead looking over at Suzuka-chan and asking her again since Arisa-chan was done._

" _And you Suzuka-chan?"_

 _Suzuka-chan was silent for a moment, thinking over the past hour before lightly shaking her head and giving an answer. "It was nice. She seemed nice… there was something wrong with her though…" A pause waited for a couple of second before Suzuka-chan shook her head quickly and continued with one last statement. "I don't know what to think of her yet." It was nice to know they'd enjoyed the short time they'd had together… unfortunately they had to go now…_

" _Alright. Goodbye Suzuka-chan, Arisa-chan, see you another time."_

 _Arisa-chan was the first one to begin leaving, closing the distance between her and herself in a single dart motion and giving her another hug… she was extra-clingy today for some reason. Quickly releasing her and backing off she gave a wide smile and a wave, running off down the street a ways before calling back to her. "See ya, Nanoha-chan! Don't do anything I would do!" She didn't even have time to wave back before Arisa-chan was gone._

 _Suzuka-chan waited for a little while for Arisa-chan to run off before turning back to her, fidgeting slightly in place before softly muttering a goodbye. "Bye, stay safe. Come over whenever you want, you're always welcome." She'd probably take that offer up another time, sooner than Suzuka-chan would think, maybe another surprise visit like the last time._

" _I will Suzuka-chan, I'll try and be over again before the month ends." Her friend gave a gentle smile before nodding her head, giving a 'goodbye hug' as well before walking off in the same direction as Arisa-chan, turning around and giving a little wave that she responded with one herself, before turning back and continuing on her way. All that left was making her way to her guest, who'd waited a bit further away for her to say goodbye, and they'd be off to home._

 _Harlaown-sama said nothing as she walked over to her, merely falling in step the moment she passed by, and quietly sipping tea as was normal for her. Once they were a bit away from the café, her guest decided to speak her mind, mirroring the answers that Suzuka-chan and Arisa-chan had just given her a few minutes before. "That was quite enjoyable, I'd like to do that again sometime." All she did in response was nod her head once, she didn't need to respond vocally nor did she want to, and they continued back to home, to whatever awaited them there today._

 _Thankfully nothing bad should happen… at worst there'd be an explosion from where Chrono-san had his forge set up, everyone else was 'well-behaved' and didn't do anything besides occasionally spar or walk around aimlessly._

* * *

… It could have gone a lot worse, especially given her, Suzuka-chan's, and Arisa-chan's normal interactions with other people. Much, much worse. Arisa-chan didn't try and punch Harlaown-sama once, which was a major improvement from the last time, and Suzuka-chan actually talked instead of just sit quietly.

Aside from that event, and the other two times they all had tea together, there wasn't anything that she hadn't done already or was interesting enough to recall even remotely, which left her quite bored now, sitting on the top of a hill waiting for night to dawn.

It was… 'worrying' when several members of the crew had shown up injured and slightly drained of mana, only the enforcers that Harlaown-sama approved to be out and about. Which was why she, Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san were currently waiting for whatever was 'fighting' the Enforcers, seeing as how the only thing they managed to see of the attacker before running away was splashes of red and blue, it was better to wait and hope it came after them.

* * *

" _An old Enemy of Seraphs comes, little Seraph."_ Oh?

That was interesting, she hadn't heard about an 'enemy of Seraphs' before from her in the history lessons, was this who she was waiting for then? She'd know soon enough, she honestly hoped for a real fight, it'd been so long since the last one and while she had spars with Harlaown-sama, there was nothing at stake there, and so she didn't try. Now?

Now there was a reason to fight until her body broke and ruptured, and then continue until she lost every bit of feeling there was. "How far away?"

" _Five hundred meters, approaching quickly, visual in about a minute."_ She couldn't wait that long, so she'd shorten the time and run towards her as well. _"Such a strange response. Do as you wish little Seraph, I await your request."_

She didn't give another response in return, leaping off the hill top and landing on one of her platforms before beginning the long run to the city and eventually the 'enemy'. Shortly after she began moving, maybe a dozen seconds in total, she felt the tell-tale sensation of a barrier passing over her, as well as the colors becoming muted as it passed by. If the person didn't know about her before, they would now that the barrier went by.

Quietly she hummed a tune as she slowed down to a walk, there was no rush now considering she'd see the person coming _well_ before she would need to draw her sword or move out of the way… even if they shot a massive projectile at her. _"Visual in ten seconds, straight left."_ She didn't have time to say anything in reply, crashing sounding from the skyscraper in the direction Razing Heart had said as something probably did a 'her' and plowed into it.

Unfortunately, she misjudged the speed at which the things were going, and thus got hit straight in the head with the 'something' as it went crashing out of the building. A glancing hit it may have been, almost hurtling right past her right shoulder with only a skip into it making the projectile hit, but it hurt _far_ more than any of the other spells she was hit by. _"Projectile found, Schwalbefliegen. Identity confirmed, enemy is the Knight of the Iron Hammer."_

Well… knowing that didn't help _her_ considering she didn't know who that was, or what they were capable of, though at least she knew a name to call them by… which wasn't really that amazing. "Is there anything I should be prepared for?" _"She's tiny, and hits a lot harder than you'd expect. She also uses a hammer."_ _That_ was much better than just the name, as now she had something to expe-

The cracking of concrete and shattering of glass snapped her out of her thoughts, the platform she was standing on dissipating under her and letting her fall as a volley of 'Schwa… Schwalbef… _'_ sailed directly over her head. All she saw was a streak of red pass by as she fell, continuing past until all four of them slammed into a 4-floor building, shortly after which she made another platform to halt her fall, letting her land softly and wait for whatever was next.

And of course with her luck of things, _another_ volley of those projectiles came crashing through the building, somehow aimed at her again despite neither her nor the other person having seen one another yet. Considering the angle they were coming at… Eisenmauer and Macht came up as her blade was pulled from its sheathe. No time to slot in Razing Heart with their speed.

The first of the eight projectiles she let fly past without a single worry, it wouldn't hit her, even though it would come close to grazing, the next was subjected to one of her shields, the latter being broken through the moment it appeared while doing its job. While the second of them was set to careen away, the third met a different fate, finding her blade meeting it and cleaving it in half as the fourth one passed by.

The fifth struck her straight in the same shoulder, a sharp pain lancing through her as it ricocheted off, while the sixth hit another shield, that one managing to last a few seconds before shattering. Seventh and eighth of those projectiles were nowhere close to where she was, probably just meant to box her in for the other six to hit.

After the inevitable crash of each projectile making impact, silence reigned as she dropped to the street, checking over her blade and 'tsk-ing' as she found a chip in it where the projectile had hit it. Wasting no more time she pulled Razing Heart down from her neck and inserted her Device into the blade while donning her Jacket, and then looked up.

… She really was tiny.

Standing atop the building directly next to the one she'd just thrown several projectiles through, the girl looked to be around her size, mainly clad in red clothing, just judging by the mass of color since they were quite a distance away. Nothing was said, yet she could feel something 'heavy' on her as they looked at one another… that was strange and worth trying to figure out later.

There was no warning before the Knight came hurtling down from above with hammer raised behind her, she was ready though, and stepped to the side twice a moment before the Knight made impact. The ground shook slightly under the impact, enough to be noticeable but little else, while dust sprang up around and partially obscured them. Her own blade was pulled across her chest, point forward before she lunged, piercing through the dust only to find nothing.

Immediately she made a platform under her and detonated it, sending her into the air and blowing away the dust to reveal her opponent picking herself up from the ground and glaring at her, how she warranted that was a mystery. The Knight… was tiny, slightly smaller than herself from the looks of it, with red hair braided in two 'tails' and had blue eyes narrowed angrily at her… She'd never met this person once, and they were irrationally angry towards her… this almost felt like her meeting with Fate-san again.

Anyway, she was wearing a dress, an old-fashioned, Western, red dress with black accents and brown… 'things' hanging off the back, as well as black 'gloves', red-black boots and a strange-looking red hat with what looked like rabbits and yellow 'x's on it. Last was what she assumed was the device, a fully metal, silver hammer with two sides on the head and a red handle and… 'connector', far smaller than the one Harlaown-sama used, both in length and in head size.

… She looked far stranger than anyone else she'd seen in a Barrier Jacket.

Nothing got said again, just her standing on a platform looking down and the Knight looking up at her for several long moment, considering she would probably need it, she let her last two augments bubble to life, while at the same time letting her other two fade back to the base 'level'. She'd put them back on when the fight was actually underway, but for now they just wasted mana… even though she barely used any whatsoever now that Razing Heart regulated it all.

Motes begin to flicker into being, lazily floating off her blade without a care in the world as the Knight brandished something in her off-hand before tossing it into the air and swinging at it, so that was what the projectiles where. More motes drifted off in sync with the projectiles being fired, four streaks of red lancing through the air only to bounce off the same number of shields that sprang to her defense, Razing Heart's voice whispering in her head when no second volley came. _"Calibrations set, Schwalbefliegen angle found."_

She didn't respond again, merely focusing on the Knight as she readied herself for something, motes continuing to float off without a care from her sword. They hadn't gotten any better, though she could probably do something with them whenever she learned how to change her mana to an explosive, but they still served a purpose, however minor it was.

The Knight didn't waste any more time, leaping up at her with a glowing hammer raised as she was lost in thought, flying through the field of motes without a care or worry and ignoring whatever effect they had on her. Falling backwards off her platform made the inevitable swing pass directly over her face and let her fall through the growing cloud of mana, before she immediately righted herself as best as possible.

Another platform awaited her beneath the motes, landing gently with a single stumble, she hopped back two steps and readied herself for the Knight to charge her prior position. Sure enough, the Knight barged straight through the cloud almost directly where she did so, and clearly wasn't expecting her to be swinging at her the moment she came through, at least it seemed that way with the widening eyes.

The Knight's hammer was there just in time to block her slash, unfortunately for the Knight, she didn't have time to brace and got sent flying off into a building… was she really that strong that even a Knight couldn't stand her ground? Her thoughts distracted her from the fight again, and she got hit in return straight in the face… surprisingly she didn't go flying, only skidding along the platform a few meters before she hit the edge and started falling again, motes trailing behind her. And that was when the pain started trickling in, a dull ache echoing in her check that was ignored for the moment.

Another platform met her feet before immediately detonating and sending her flying back towards the cloud, swinging her blade at the younger-looking girl as they pass by only to miss completely as the Knight dipped down at the last moment. Skidding along the platform left behind, she made the cloud drift from its position above her to around her, enveloping herself in her own mana before almost immediately detonating that platform to go out.

The last of the motes left her blade as four red streaks lanced through the cloud and scattered the motes comprising it, letting her see the Knight looking quite frustrated at, likely, the distinct lack of progress, which became readily apparent when the little girl shouted at her. "Stand still damnit!" She felt her smile grow in amusement at the first words spoken, but otherwise didn't do anything in response to the words, why would she when that would be a waste of energy and possibly a distraction to herself?

Whoever the Knight was, she was rather fun to fight with and she finally got to use the… _Göttlich Streuen Kugel_ as Razing Heart had named it, in a new way to replace the old one. _"Dodge, Seraph._ "

Without even bothering to look where whatever it was was coming from, she let the platform dissipate and let her fall through with the aid of a platform above her detonating into a third. When she finally focused back, she saw a _big_ red blur fly in front of her face before rocketing through where she'd been, as well as the Knight following behind it with her hammer reared back. That would get boring quickly, and she wanted to enjoy an actual fight.

So, she did the simplest solution to that, detonate the platform and ram into the girl before she could swing. It worked perfectly as it normally did.

Both of them flew down the street back towards the hillside she'd started at, both disengaging from one another with a single clash of weapons before stopping and looking at one another. The Knight looked neither tired, nor terribly hurt from their short exchange, and she didn't feel either as well, aside from dull aches from the few hits she'd taken. Aside from that, her smile was a bit brighter than when they started, probably because the Knight could _take_ a hit from her, unlike everyone but Harlaown-sama, while the little girl had her face set in… something.

Without anything to spark it, the Knight's face immediately 'worsened', as if she learned of something terrible, before it schooled back to the 'something' it was set at… was that determination? Regardless she started to back away, they were nearer to the hill and the forest behind it with the unstopped ram, an- "Who are you and why the hell were you waiting for me?"

She had to take a moment to actually register the question, considering the girl decided to interrupt her without getting her attention first, though the moment she did, she had a reply ready and waiting, "No one important and no reason in particular." She saw what she thought was frustration work its way onto the other girl's face, and her amusement from earlier came back in full force.

As soon as the girl got ahold of herself and was ready to come at her again, she bolted behind her into the trees, ignoring the immediate, "GET BACK HERE!" and happily humming to herself as she made landfall and started ducking and weaving through the trees. Hearing crashing behind her immediately told her that the Knight was both very angry, and wasn't too nimble in these tight spaces, a pity for the Knight.

Quickly deciding on a course of action, she let a few motes drift off her blade in random directions before sheathing her sword and waited patiently for her foe to arrive. She didn't wait long for the Knight to arrive, bursting through a tree amidst splinters and bark and continuing to charge at her, apparently too 'enraged' to think clearly and even assume this was a trap… not that it was, but it was reckless to just charge in.

Another detonation sent her to the side just as the girl swung her hammer, making another platform and detonating it to send her back at the Knight, quickly swinging and managing to land a light cut on her foe's calf before skidding to a stop. She continued to hum happily as she ducked under a retaliatory swing, stabbing out twice and eliciting two more cuts along the Knight's stomach before hopping away as the hammer smashed into the ground.

Slashing quickly through the air, she sent a small Welle-Schrägstrich straight at the girl, crossing the distance between them and breaking upon the Knight's hammer before she charged at the girl again. A swing met the hammer's haft, a punch met the Knight's face and stunned her, and a kick sent her flying away without issue… she wasn't nearly as tough as the Admiral.

Another volley of metal balls fired from the Knight's direction, only one needing to be dealt with a quickly-made shield as the others went far too wide, likely from firing wildly while moving. Shortly afterwards she started walking in the direction the Knight had gone, still happily humming whatever tune it was today until the Knight flew out of the trees again and tried to smash her face in. Key being 'tried'.

She detonated the ground under her and flew into platform waiting above her, watching as the hammer harmlessly exploded a tree beneath her before she punished the opening given… at least she tried to. A shield quickly formed into existence right where she aimed herself, resulting in her slamming into it without any preparation and immediately scrambling off with another hastily-made detonation before the hammer clipped her. "That's not going to work again!"

She felt her amusement drop slightly with the Knight's declaration, and her humming died, though rather than be annoyed like the other girl was she felt excitement take hold of her body as her smile turned sharper. It would have been quite… annoying if this Knight was taken out with a simple tactic like that, regardless of how 'unconventional' it may have been.

Without a word, she dropped back to the forest floor and slowly stood up, watching with slight interest as the Knight brandished a single, slightly larger metal ball than the others, more like a baseball than marbles, and threw it into the air. The hammer came around quickly and struck the projectile, sending it hurtling at her… given that Razing Heart hadn't prepared for this projectile yet, or knew how to set up the shield, she got ready to get rid of it herself.

It closed the distance far quicker than her own spell had, she barely had time to 'upgrade' her strength augment to the next spell, and bring her sword in time to try and cleave it. The projectile screeched as it fought against her sword, grinding against it for less than a moment before a loud crack echoed and it split cleanly in two, her smile lessening in response to the numerous spiderweb cracks dotting her blade now.

Thankfully for her she paid attention to duck under another swing of the hammer, unfortunately she wasn't prepared to be punched in the cheek by the girl, nor was she prepared for the hammer to come swinging straight back into her on the opposite cheek. She tried to move her sword and arm up to defend herself, but she was far too slow and was nailed in the chest by the hammer and stumbled back a step, before managing to grab onto the hammer and prevent the Knight from getting away. "How the hell can you take all of that without saying anythi-"

A knee to the Knight's stomach cut the Knight off from continuing, the girl nearly doubling over before she gave a quick, truthful answer. "I've had worse." And with that, she punched the girl straight in the face and sent her flying away into the woods, _again_. Quickly checking over her sword and letting a concerned smile grace her face at its sorry-state, cracks lining the metal from top to bottom… it had a single hit to take left in it and that was all.

While this was enjoyable and all, she still had to complete the little mission her guest had asked of her, which was find and defeat the enemy attacking her crew, and given the way things were turning out, they'd be beating each other senseless for hours before either of them won, _and_ she'd lose her sword before the battle's end. Which meant that to actually win she'd have to hit a lot harder and faster, her spells sucked and the Knight took a lot from her regular hits… and she'd been forbidden to go Seraph without being told to by the Admiral…

Back to what worked well and true then.

Turning slightly, she slashed through the tree to her left before throwing her blade into the ground, grabbing the falling trunk with both hands and finally swiveling back to face the Knight's direction and 'wind up' the throw. A few seconds later the girl broke through the treeline and stopped short just as she caught sight of her, face immediately turning from determination to surprise as the Knight's eyes widened greatly and she hastily brought up a shield. That had never worked before with a tree, it wouldn't work now.

She felt the need to say something as she started throwing the impromptu projectile, nothing too long otherwise the tree would be thrown and hit before she finished… simple usually worked. "Hi." And with that said, the tree was sent hurtling at the Knight.

Her shield was raised just in time to take the brunt of the force, the tree shattering it on impact and continuing to plow into the Knight and send both of them flying… she wasn't nearly as tough as Harlaown-sama. Several more trees broke as both the Knight and projectile flew past, eventually coming to a stop several dozen meters away, the Knight straining herself to get up as she happily made her way over while humming. Then she stopped the moment the girl looked over at her, what had been frustration had turned to anger, justified probably, and her mouth was pulled back in a snarl, and the voice sealed that.

"… **You Bitch.** "

… She screwed up, didn't she?

A scream of rage came from the Knight, ignoring it, she decided to immediately run away, given how much fire there was, and the fact the Knight seemed to be extremely angry… yea… woods and fire don't go well. She heard an explosion and another, slightly quieter scream behind her and took the chance that as a warning to go straight up, narrowly avoiding an ensuing explosion of fire blow her… Definitely screwed up…

Another explosion echoed out from behind her, softer than the other, but it immediately made her explode the platform she was on to avoid whatever caused it, three moments later watching the Knight rocket past her with a literal rocket having replaced the hammer-head. A single slightly complicated turn and the Knight was rounding back towards her, another explosion occurring from the red 'connector' and making her go even faster than prior, again she dodged by detonating a platform to the side, narrowly avoiding the drill-like tip… This wouldn't end well at all.

She let herself fall through the air, followed by the Knight after several twirls and spirals to try and follow with the rocket and keep momentum, calmly trying to think of some way to stall for more time and not get into a fight that got her sword shattered. … Nothing came to mind and the ground and Knight were quickly approaching… so run away it was.

An upright platform formed next to her, reaching out to touch it she felt the gentle caress of mana just before it violently exploded and sent her flying to the side, right before she would have been hit by the Knight. Her feet hit the ground just as the Knight hit the pavement, a bit of pain shooting up them before another platform sent her further away, skidding along the ground behind a building before quickly entering it.

Of course, her current location went unknown for only a couple of seconds before the other girl smashed through the wall with a snarl, only being avoided by virtue of her being on the exact opposite side of the current floor. Immediately she ran and barged through a wall, turned and ran towards an entirely different building, to eventually repeat the process again and continue avoiding the small bundle of rage behind her.

And thus, the chase began.

She dodged, ran and hid as best as she could, explosions, angry screams and roaring engines telling her where her opponent was at all times… yet she didn't risk fighting her for the simple reason of even one of those hits would take her out, even with Eisenmauer taken into account. If there was one ray of hope her, it was Chrono-san and Harlaown-sama would eventually get through… probably, there had to be something holding them up if they were this late after several minutes of fighting.

"WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU!" The Knight's voice carried far, even with the engine loudly firing as the girl looked for her, her opponent being almost directly outside the building that she currently hiding in right now… Apparently actually 'sensing' other people wasn't possible, something to be grateful for now and keep in mind later on. For now though, she just stalled for time until Chrono-san or Harlaown-sama showed up, just as she'd been doing since the beginning of the fight.

Quietly she sat down and rested a while, taking care to continue listening for the engines as they died down, steadily growing close until the engines fully quieted. It would seem that she would be seeing her opponent sooner than she'd wanted, haa… best be ready before she got found by the Knight.

She didn't bother running off or waiting somewhere hidden, just standing in the middle of the parking garage she found herself in, specifically one of the ramps leading to a higher level, she was 'sick' of running away, even if that was her best course of action. Eventually after a minute or two, the Knight barged through the concrete above her, dropping from the ceiling in a crouch before quickly standing up, still with a snarl etched into her face. " _There you are."_ There was no reason for the Knight to be so mad, all she did was throw a tree at her.

In response she gave a little wave and a smile, something that infuriated the other girl greatly from the way she clenched her hammer tighter… it didn't have the engines or drill tip anymore, which somewhat made sense since the Knight had barely any control over direction with the thing. For probably the first time in the fight she dashed forward first, taking the Knight by surprise for a moment as she slashed at her, only to find the hammer haft in her way and having to duck under said hammer.

Two more slashes from her were blocked by the hammer and a single swing of the other girl's hammer smashed into the ground, a volley of the metal projectiles were sent only to be deflected by shields before a single mistake was made. The Knight brought her hammer around again and swung with all the force she could muster, visibly angered and frustrated with how the fight was going, while she ducked under the hammer and proceeded to slash upwards while the hammer was still in motion and out of blocking range. Blood welled and splashed her in the face, a pleasant feeling, as her sword bit past the Jacket and into the Knight's skin, the girl wincing in pain before being decked in the face by her free hand and sent skidding back.

A pained grunt wrenched itself from the Knight's throat, the girl's hammer turning back into the rocket-hammer as she regained her balance, engines roaring to life as she immediately started flying back at her. The first pass was ducked under with the aid of a shield slowing the Knight down a bit, the second being dodged to the side with another shield, an explosion heralding the third try and failure as she jumped over it. The fourth had her dodging again with no time to make a shield… the fifth found her up against the wall, and with no other options she brought her sword up and hoped.

An audible crack echoed out above the engines, and her eyes widened slightly as her sword gave out under the strain and shattered, her left hand immediately reaching out and grabbing Razing Heart before she was sent hurtling through the wall towards the pavement. She didn't even try to slow down, simply flipping herself back upright and cracking the ground as she landed, staying still as metal shards and concrete rained down with a clatter as she tried to realize what had happened.

Her sword…

Her gift…

Her treasure…

She broke it…

She broke it…

She broke it…

She broke it…

* * *

 _The 'wall'… it was falling apart, and the 'whispers' were finally back after so long. There was something 'different' about these whispers though, they were dissonant and full of rage for some reason. She didn't understand why really, the only thing that had happened was her wielder's sword broke under a rocket-hammer, it wasn't even her life-weapon so it wasn't like the thing mattered._

 _She wouldn't really understand her newest wielder, she was just too radically 'different' from the rest of the past Seraphs to understand this quickly, not that that was an issue, it was nice to puzzle about_ what _this girl of hers was beyond being the Seraph of Blades. Not that it really mattered at this moment, such musings could be done later when the only other choice was sleeping, there was something else she could be doing at this moment~_

 _Finally, something to stave away boring sleep and entertain her. The only annoying part was 'Nanoha' hadn't used her during that younger little program's rampage, but that'd be changed quickly, Devices were meant to be used to kill, destroy and fight after all._

 _And the little program had made the always smiling 'Nanoha' feel absolute rage. This would be_ so very **enjoyable** _._

* * *

The whispers made from Okaa-sama's voice came back after so long, but they weren't the same as the ones before. These echoes weren't filled with love and kindness, nor laced with direction and a helping hand. They were not gentle, nor did they desire to protect or lead.

 _She broke it._

Filled with rage, fueled by a desire to burn, kill and destroy, the whispers had lost all traces of their innocence and warmth, it suited them in this moment as their rage was directed to an unassuming little girl hurtling at her. She felt her smile dying.

 _She broke it._

A pulse of mana was sent coursing through her body, right hand lifted up quickly into the path of the rocket-hammer as both Eisenmauer and Mächtige Einfluss took effect. She didn't feel anything as the drill slammed into the palm, she didn't feel anything as skin was rent from her fingers as her hand closed around the drill, she didn't feel anything as her body was dragged along the rupturing pavement by the force she was hit with. The only sounds she heard over the roar of the girl's rocket was said girl's grunting of exertion and the shattering of concrete, neither of which were worth noting.

 _She broke it._

Quickly they both came to a stop as the momentum of the red-haired girl gave out, there was red dripping to the ground and a trail leading back to here she'd started… a short distance, a few meters, she expected more from the other girl. "The hell are you made of?" She heard the girl's angry words, she didn't care to answer, the answer was obvious and she didn't feel polite enough to talk to this little girl without insulting her.

 _She broke it._

Both of them weren't moving any more, well the girl was trying to force the rocket-hammer down through her arm, but her body was strong enough to withstand and ignore Harlaown-sama's blows at the moment. Her other arm raised itself in response to her smile ticking away to nothing and her right arm finally gave out under the strain of mana, skin rupturing small founts of blood and bones fracturing. Of course, as luck would have it, the girl decided to use more of whatever fueled that rocket the moment her arm gave out.

The result of that was what could be expected.

 _She broke_ **it.**

Engines flared and roared before the 'hammer' simply went through her arm taking its wielder with it, as well as making her own strike miss entirely. Bone splintered and flew like shrapnel while skin and muscle turned to bloody mist before slowly floating to the ground. Her opponent crashed into the ground and apparently skidded along it before coming to a stop if the noise behind her was correct, her smile drooped more to a near thin line.

 **She broke it.**

Pain… why couldn't she feel any more pain? She could still feel, otherwise the strange… 'tingling' concentrated at her right shoulder wouldn't have been noticed, so that raised the question, why couldn't she feel pain? … It didn't matter, not now when she was experiencing **rage** for the first time in her short life, those little rules she kept to herself didn't matter right now. She let a low whisper hiss through the air, one similar to the hate-filled ones echoing in her head, before beginning to turn around to face the little girl.

 **She broke it.**

Whatever the girl was about to say died in her throat as she turned around and looked at her, the Knight taking a step back in response to a few things. The first was likely Razing Heart finally speaking for the first time in this fight out loud, _"Die Zahl ist auf einundsiebzig gesetzt. Man wird subtrahiert, die nummer ist auf siebzig gesetzt."_ [The number is set to seventy-one. One is subtracted, the number is set to seventy.] Next was whatever was happening with her arm, or what remained of it, and the third and last was the single most important of the three.

Her smile was gone.

" _You broke it."_

* * *

 _AN: Nanoha-chan's mad. Vita-chan's mad._

 _On another note, Conception III was updated with a minor thing, nothing too major but it'll make more sense for something later on for Nanoha-chan._


	15. Ascent II

_Amount of Hugs needed: 12,007_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 6,086_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

 _AN: Nanoha's much more graceful with a sword. That is all._

* * *

It wasn't right. It wasn't right for her to be angry. It wasn't right for her to make this personal when she was done, it was only an item after all…

No… it wasn't just an item, it was her treasure, one of only two. It was her gift, one of only two, given to her by her Okaa-sama. Takamachi never celebrated birthdays, nor did they give gifts for no reason, so whatever they did get as gifts were worth more to them than family. It was worth feeling _rage_. It was worth breaking the promise.

Sonnenlicht-Tanz. It wasn't fully ready, but she didn't care at all, she needed speed to keep pace with the Knight. It didn't matter if it broke her body, Razing Heart would fix her up. That's what she did.

"How… How the hell did you regenerate your damn arm!?" No answer was given, she didn't know nor care about something like that. All she wanted was to _strangle_ the Knight for _breaking_ it, and then she'd be able to let go.

With a hard push and a detonation, she closed the distance between them in seconds without any warning, the Knight's eyes widening again as she tried to bring up her hammer. She hit the other girl square in the chest just after the hammer made it halfway to where it was supposed to be, a gasp sounding before the Knight went flying into the building's wall.

No hesitation was in her as she immediately followed after the girl, the fist holding Razing Hear rearing back for when the Knight stopped and smashed her again through the wall. Alarms started wailing as she strode through the breach, barely hearing Razing Heart over the angry whispers. _"_ _Schwarze Wirkung_. _Genießen Sie die Schlachtung, meine Seraph._ "

She felt something blossom on her hands and climb further to her elbows, something gleeful and hungry. She didn't like it. She didn't care about it though, anything to _murder_ the Knight was welcome to aid her.

Continuing to walk forward, she found the Knight lifting herself back onto her feet, hammer used to prop her up. "Alright, _Bitch_. You wanna play rough?" _"Alle tödlichen Funktionen sind aktiv."_ "Let's play fucking rough!" The voice grated on her nerves, she'd silence it eventually.

Launching forward again, she pulled back her fist and punched forward as she neared the girl, noting with disinterest that her arm was on fire, black flames, and she wasn't feeling heat. A red, triangular shield met her fist, cracking on impact almost to the point of shattering, but it held, barely.

The Knight pulled back her hammer, tossing up a large metal sphere in front of her before smashing the hammer into it and sending it through the now-shattered shield. The sphere plowed into her chest and sent her a few steps back before she threw her left hand out and the projectile with it, sending it through a car.

Charging again caught the Knight off-guard, somehow unexpected despite her being in full view, delivering a punch to the girl's chest that raised her off the ground for a moment before she was decked in the face again and sent flying. Nothing hurt. Nothing hurt. Nothing hurt but her heart.

Rushing forward again as the girl quickly tried to pick herself up before she got there, an action that failed as she kneed the girl in the face to send her up a bit stunned, punched her in the face back down, and finally kicked her out of the building through a shower of concrete and dust.

Stalking out of the building through the new hole, she quickly lost where her opponent was, immediately looking to the sky and searching. Something struck her in the back of the head, and made her step forward twice before turning back around.

Catching another blow to her cheek sent her another step back, an uppercut from the hammer missing as she took yet another step. The Knight managed to compensate enough that she didn't overextend, but by that point she was just sent flying down the road before scrabbling to a stop.

She was on the girl before she fully came to a stop, punching down only for her to dodge out of the way and swing the hammer again. Swatting the weapon up as it neared with her free hand, nearly making the girl lose it from the unexpected, she pulled her other hand from the ground and swung at the unbalanced girl.

The girl fell to the ground as she held the hammer until all of its momentum was lost, just fast enough that she missed and hit nothing but air, the Knight recovering quickly and swinging the hammer again to hit her in the chin. A step back and nothing more before she retaliated, smashing her foe back into the ground before kicking her into the side of a building hard enough to crack it.

A grunt in pain was all the Knight gave before falling to the ground, by that point she was steadily moving forward towards her, while the Knight slowly raised herself to her feet again. _Break_ her, _maim_ her, _destroy_. Three little thoughts all connected in purpose sent her into action, leaping from the middle of the street straight at the Knight.

The Knight managed to drop to the ground before she managed to hit her, flying over the girl and burying her fist in the cracked concrete, only to immediately pull it out in a cascade of rubble and whirl about again. A hit from the hammer struck her chest, a bit harder than the before hits and enough to send her into the ruined house, a low growl almost coming out before she calmed herself.

She was angry, she wasn't in madness. There was no reason to behave like an animal.

With a detonation at her feet, she flew out of the quickly deteriorating house and rammed directly into the girl, getting a gasp for her trouble and ending up with both of them on the road near the other sidewalk, her on top of the Knight. She got three punches, once in the nose, and twice to the jaw, before she got thrown off with something similar to an explosion, getting sent to what would have been the opposite side of the street.

Quickly she got back to her feet, and started stalking forward again, watching as the Knight got back to her feet with staggering feet, the clothing she had been wearing replaced with more 'normal' wear. She didn't care enough to take them in, barely caring to listen to what the girl said. "All I did… was break your Device… It'll repair itself…"

Okaa-sama was no mage, she had no Device. It wouldn't get repaired on its own, and it wouldn't be remade with mana. The Knight wouldn't know, but she still was at fault, and ignorance was not something that could forgive. The Knight caught her breath just as she bounded at her again, the girl leaping into the air quickly the moment the move registered and flying up as she stopped and prepared to go up after her.

At least, she did until a mass of mana vaguely resembling fire formed above the Knight and was quickly shot down at her. A moment of 'hesitation' passed before she went up to meet the projectile with aid from a platform, charging headfirst into the thing before it decided to explode in her face.

It barely slowed her down, a few lingering flames catching onto her Jacket and skin as she emerged from the smoke cloud, another platform of mana awaiting her before helping her continue up. "Oh, come on!" She didn't know why the Knight shouted that, nor did she care, but the action costed the other girl slightly as she reached her before the Knight had time to get away.

The hammer swung in tune with her fist, both somehow managing to arc directly into each other without actual aim from either of them. They both impacted with one another for a second, then two as they both tried desperately to overpower the other, before both launched back, with neither of them prepared to compensate.

Due to her type of 'flying', she was sent backwards with a slight turn while her opponent simply backed away slightly before catching herself. A platform greeted her, cracking under her for some reason, before she got her balance back, 'instinct', or whatever it could be called, warning her of something behind her that was trying to hurt her.

Whirling around, she grabbed the Knight's hammer with a hand and held firm as her foe tried in vain to complete the swing. The Knight's eyes widened in fear for a moment before she turned back around, taking the hammer and Knight with her, and sent the girl hurtling down into a building. She continued looking down for a moment before looking at her hand and the still-held hammer.

Not even bothering to listen to it as it said something in Belkan, she tossed it up, caught it by the handle and threw it down after the girl. She didn't wait for it to land, instead following after it to deal one more blow. The hammer landed first, burying itself next to the startled Knight, a few seconds later she was there, fist buried into the Knight's chest as the girl coughed blood.

The roof collapsed shortly after, three heavy impacts too much for it. She let the Knight fall, and slowly left her that way. She was tired now… full of rage, but tired, even the flames on her arms were dimmer and flickering, yet there was still something to do.

Her gift… one of the two things precious and dear… given by her Okaa-sama as she died… She needed to pick up the pieces, they'd fix it. She'd fix it for Okaa-sama.

Okaa-sama… Okaa-sama…

She didn't mean for it to break, it needed to be fixed, it needed to be fixed. She'd pick every piece up and repair it, she'd remake it for Okaa-sama, it needed to go back to her, for when the ashes would go to their proper place.

The hilt was over there, a bit in ahead where she'd dropped it, the metal was scattered like leaves. She'd pick them up, remake the sword and sheathe it again one more time. Her blade was almost here, there wasn't a need for Okaa-sama's blade to continue fighting anymore.

Engines were firing behind her, she didn't care enough to look around, too absorbed in her actions of picking up the remains Okaa-sama's gift. Steadily the noise grew closer, still she didn't look up, still picking up shards of metal as gently as she could.

A roar, one of desperation, anger and a bit of fear reached her ears, causing her to pause and listen. " **RAKETENHAMMER!** " Something hit the back of her head a second later, forcing her face-first down into the pavement with a thunderous crash, and an almost pain. She heard metal shattering over the engines screaming, before both eventually quieted. Something wet and another hard fell from the back of her head, the wet dripping through her hair and onto her face before piling on the ground.

The pain subsided, and she heard heavy breathing and footsteps from behind her. "Take… that… bitch…"

…

… That had been stupid of the Knight. Interrupting her when the Knight should have fled. _Punishment_ was necessary.

Slowly she picked herself off the ground, uncaring that she felt nothing even though she should have, uncaring that her vision dipped from clear to blurred. "W-What the hell _are you!? Why won't you fucking die!?_ " Fear. She heard Fear. _Good._

" _Die Zahl ist auf siebzig eingestellt. Man wird subtrahiert, die Zahl ist auf neunundsechzig eingestellt."_ Razing Heart gleefully said that, muffled as it was with her hand covering the Device.

For the second time since Okaa-sama's sword broke she spoke directly to the Knight, voice devoid of all but the barest hint of _rage_. "I am a Monster. _You are not my Hero._ " That was all that needed to be said, everything was easy to understand.

Before she gave the girl a chance, she whirled around, grabbed her by the face, kneed her in the stomach and finally tossed her into another building. She wasn't tired any more, the flames weren't tired anymore.

There was still _rage_ and _hatred_ in her heart for this Knight.

Concrete fell from the wall, clattering against the ground as she stalked forward again while the Knight pried herself from the wall, hammer turning back to normal. "Well… _Fuck_." Even if she was _furious_ with the girl, she agreed with the sentiment behind those words.

The flames flared back to wrathful life, eager to continue the fight after the further desecration of her treasure. This time a growl _did_ emerge out of her throat, immediately snapping the Knight in place at the sheer _rage_ the sound emitted, where before she'd spoken emotionlessly like a base machine.

The growl froze the girl for two seconds before regaining her bearings, she was already in front of her with a fist reared back. A shield tried to be made, she shattered it before it could properly form, the hammer tried to block her fist, she went faster than it. And again, the Knight was sent flying away, unfortunately, not into a building.

She raced after her opponent, ignoring the small metal spheres sent her way, even as they hit her, stopping only to make a platform as the girl again rose into the air to put distance. Another round of spheres came at her, a few shields sprouted up in front of her and deflected the ones aimed directly at her, turning them from direct hits to only glancing at best.

A few seconds before she was in front of the Knight, the girl brought back her hammer, red mana coating its head before it was swung forward yet again. She didn't attempt to block the hit, or even match it, instead she ignored it and went for a punch towards the Knight's chest.

It failed, pure and simple.

The hammer hit first, and like every other hit so far, excepting the rocket-hammer, she shrugged off what little pain there was, the only issue came from the force behind the blow. She was not prepared for the force, and so was sent flying back towards the ground, flipping once to land in a crouch before skidding along the street.

Another of the flaming projectiles was sent down shortly after, this time she chose to go around with two platforms rather than charge straight through. A single large sphere was poised to meet her, only to find itself punched down to the ground with little more thought than getting around in the air, after that, she was back in the same position that had occurred not even fifteen seconds prior.

A similar situation played out, the only difference being the hammer being swung from the left this time rather than the right. A platform was readied just as the hammer reached halfway to her, another detonation taking her up into another Luftschritt as the hammer missed her completely, the Knight had a moment to brace before she slammed into her and took both of them towards the concrete.

They landed in a plume of rubble, dust and rock, a pained sound coming from the girl before she hauled her up, punched her once in the gut and threw her out of the cloud into the street. The dust settled and she started to walk up and out of the crater they'd formed on landing, finding the girl trying and failing to get up after her treatment of her, finally deciding to use her hammer to prop herself up with an occasional stumble.

She was about to continue forward, only to stop as her 'instinct' warned her of something coming, prepared for something to come, but not moving otherwise.

Something felt wrong. Something new. There was relief on the Knight's face, as if hope had finally arrived, looking back yielded only a glimpse of a metal-covered fist before she was lying down on the ground again.

"Zafira!" Immediately following the Knight's relieved shout, she got turned over and met the red-eyed gaze of another person.

A tanned man in a blue tabard with blue wolf ears and a tail looked down at her, face set in a steely frown as he looked down at her. "I'd appreciate it if you would kindly stay down."

Stay down? _Not a chance_.

She was about to get back up, sweep the man's legs out from under him and pummel him until she was thrown off by him or the Knight. There never was a chance as he immediately jumped over her and got into a stance beside the other girl, seemingly wary about something new.

"Good Morning~" Lindy. It made sense that he would be afraid of Lindy, she was much weaker than Lindy right now. "I didn't expect you two to be here of all places, I'd have guessed you'd be at somewhere else in administrated space."

"How did you get in here?" The wolf-man was the one who spoke, calm and authoritative despite the situation, staying tense in the event either of them decided to run forward.

There was amusement in Lindy's voice, as if laughter was only a step away as she calmly walked up to her body. "Easy, I broke in with a bit of mana, explosives and a hammer."

She got up, bones cracking as they set themselves right again, none of they were broken from what she could feel. The wolf-man was the one to speak again, still tensed and ready for a fight to inevitably break out. "And you are?"

"Lindy. Nice to see you again, Vita, Zafira. The new Jackets look good on you." Both the wolf-man and Knight immediately stiffened at the names. She didn't care why, it just meant there was more time to get ready for another attack.

"H-How do you know our names?" The girl stuttered, off-guard from the names with the wolf-man just a little bit less stunned. Lindy knew them from somewhere before, that didn't matter right now.

Laughter, bright and light sounded from Lindy, as if she was enjoying the little banter with their enemy. "That's my little secret~" Sing-song. That was what the tone sounded like, emphasizing each word as if they all had important meaning.

There was no point in wasting time talking, the girl needed to _die_ for breaking her gift, her treasure. That was the only compensation she'd take.

She took a step forward towards the two, hands clenching tighter, another ste-

* * *

Nanoha-chan crumpled to the ground, a sigh let out of her mouth as she twisted Bob back around to his normal position when he was active, most of the pole behind her back, the rest and head at her side. Both her old friends stared at her in shock, Vita much more noticeably than Zafira,

"What… What the hell!" Vita caught her attention with the somewhat pained shout, Nanoha must have done a number on the littlest Wolkenritter "Why'd you knock her out!?"

She gave another, longer sigh, and gave the same response that her 'Sister' gave her when she left to join the Bureau, just a few words different… at least she thought so, it'd been so long since then. "I'd rather not have her killing herself trying to kill you. Taught her too much to just have her die, and she has a lot more potential that I'd like to use elsewhere for… reasons Signum would know." The name of the third Knight, made both of them flinch and go silent, probably trying to figure out where she knew them from. As her father-in-law knew though, they wouldn't be able to remember, only Signum did for whatever reason.

" _You couldn't have allowed us a little more fun Human?"_ She laughed at the words Nanoha-chan's rather strange Device said, not because of the actual question but from how 'she' addressed her, it'd been a long time since someone had called her that, and even longer since she _stopped_ being one. Quickly settling down and growing calmer, she answered the question "Wouldn't you like it more if you got to fight as well rather than just your wielder?"

Not even a second passed after that before the small, likely Belkan device answered her, a note of annoyance in its voice. _"Why would you assume I care if I'm involved or not Human? So long as blood is spilled and my wielder wants to fight I am satisfied."_ … That was surprising, she hadn't met a single unique device that _didn't_ get extremely agitated whenever they weren't doing the fighting… haa… she didn't have any real response to give to that.

"Fine, fine. I won't get in the way again, as long as you don't let her kill herself." _"Acceptable."_ … This… This thing made no sense at all… but it agreed to her proposal, so she'd drop the issue. Besides, this wasn't even the place to even have the conversation, considering two of the four Wolkenritter were here, and who knew if the other two would be near enough to drop by.

With that thought firmly in her head, she decided now was the time to leave, and quickly started talking to distract the two. "Well, I'll be taking her…" Doing as she said after the pause, with the young girl slumped over her left shoulder after a bit of positioning, as well as pick up the handle of Nanoha's ruined weapon, she continued with the rest of the sentence with a cheer that didn't belong. "… and we'll be leaving now."

Little Vita, in all her innocence and naivety decided to be rude and keep her a while longer, angrily demanding, "What's stopping us from attacking you right now." Oh? A challenge to her, well, she'd oblige this once, not like she had the chance anymore to other Aces, those had been _so much_ **fun**.

"Well, from past experience, two A-rank threats are incapable of beating an S-rank. Simple as that." She let a pause fester for a few moments before continuing as she counted over, "If Signum were here, you'd have a chance, a good one at that." A shrug was given without a care, not like it really mattered right now, or even at all when they likely wouldn't be fighting.

Vita looked a bit annoyed and a bit more angered with that, just like last time she'd said that some… seventeen years ago when they first met. Clyde and his brother had been so amused with the littlest of the Knights much to her immediate embarrassment after that outburst. Though to be fair, they _did_ know that she was a rank above the two of them, and the Wolkenritter barring Signum, and she'd been raised on Calnarog.

Good times never lasted long...

She was actually a bit surprised there wasn't any outburst from little Vita, instead looking torn between anger and uncertainty for a moment as Zafira held her by the arm and said something only to her, before reluctantly standing down. Well, whatever the cause was didn't concern her _just_ yet, so she'd worry about it later.

"I'll see you two around another time." Starting to turn around, she stopped herself as she recalled something important, immediately changing her voice and making the Knights stop their own movement. "That said, this is your one let off. Go after me, any of my crew or this girl, and you'll wish you could die a proper death." With the threat delivered, she immediately reverted back to 'normal', voice becoming cheerful again as she gave a chuckle and continued on with the farewell.

"Now, bye! Tell Signum and Shamal hello for me, alright!" And with that, she started humming and began the walk back 'home'… she really should go back some time, it had been a long time since she'd been there… Maybe she'd take her Chrono, Nanoha and the crew and go visit for a few days when the lanes came back up and the Wolkenritter were dealt with.

It'd be nice to see 'Father' and the rest of the tribe again, if only 'Sister' could come with.

* * *

Her Chrono-kun caught up with her on the road 'home' shortly after one of the two Knights dropped the barrier, taking one look at Nanoha in something close to confusion before immediately looking at her with a questioning glance. She humored him this time, and answered the question without him having to ask, she was in a good mood after seeing Vita and Zafira. "She found our quarry, said quarry managed to anger her by breaking her sword."

A nod was given, before the questioning look was given again, this time she stayed silent and made him let out a sigh, a giggle leaving her mouth causing him to give her a dirty look before he decided to voice his question out loud. "Alright, now please explain why she's unconscious."

"Simple, I hit her in the face with Bob." Another look from Chrono had her sighing, seriously, she could do without all of the questions, especially since she knew _exactly_ where this would end up if he kept this up. "Considering she was going to throw herself until she or her opponent was dead, I decided to intervene."

For a short moment he took in the answer before his mouth turned into a frown, obviously displeased by something with her answer, as was normally the case when he got involved with her methods. "And why didn't you just help Nanoha and take the person trying to hurt your enforcers down instead?" Why? That… that was personal, really among the reasons, aside from not wanting Nanoha to kill herself, she'd been waiting on her friends to come back for twelve years now.

For once she wanted to be selfish, to do what she wanted rather than what was expected of her, and meeting with her old friends, or Signum rather due to the 'memory loss' the other three had, and just… talk. With that said, she had no justifiable excuse, to Chrono, for why she did her actions, but frankly, she didn't care and at this point the conversation would end as almost every work-related conversation between them went. "Well… Sentiments and having known the person since before you were born."

Yet again, there was the questioning look, as if such a reason didn't make sense to him and given what little she actually did know personally, it was. The only friend he had was another Ace a few years younger than him, and 'friend' was a strong word, with the girl having only used him as a training partner… She couldn't remember the girl's name off the top of her head, nor the title she gave her when she sent her off to go work under General Regius, really the only things she remembered was she had a kitten with her and no Device, two rare things.

Surprisingly she was done with her thoughts before Chrono asked his question, usually she was still in the middle of one by then. "And that makes any difference?"

"Well… I'm actually attached to friends I haven't seen in over a decade." It was a low blow to Chrono-kun considering what had happened in the past, but it put an end to the conversation far faster than any other statement would have, which given they were outside Nanoha's property, with Miyuki-chan at the gate waiting for them. Without so much as a noise or question, the young woman came forward, and held out her hands with the same gentle smile she always wore… it was, _far_ more unnerving than Nanoha-chan's constant fake smile or even when she didn't have it.

She didn't waste any time thinking anything else, shrugging off Nanoha-chan from her shoulder, and into Miyuki-chan's waiting arms, before handing over the handle as well, the older of the two sisters immediately turning on her heel and heading inside without a word. After a few moments, they both headed in as well, passing by an Enforcer stationed at the entrance just on the off-chance someone tried to come after them here, before entering the 'main house'.

They reached what could be considered the living room of the house, after a straight walk from the entrance after a few moments, and took seats at the table, an eye raised momentarily at seeing the Takamachi head walking out of the room before her attention went back to Chrono. His face was cold, to the point of being emotionless, with the only bit of anger present in his eyes telling her that he was in the exact same mindset as he was whenever the topic came up. "Was that comment really necessary, _Admiral_?"

She didn't react in any way, not even to drink tea from Bob, considering the nature of what she said and what was going _to_ be said, it'd be rude, especially after what she'd already said. "Considering I wanted the conversation done with, yes it was." The only reaction to that was Chrono narrowing both eyes and an unpleasant frown forming across his face.

Obviously displeased with her answer, Chrono's voice became much colder than before as he challenged her stated words. "And you had to dredge up the past, rather than just tell me to stop?" She said nothing for a while, letting his anger stew for a while before it started to fade away, before finally deciding to speak as his eyes went back to normal and he took a breath to calm himself.

"As you're probably forgetting, you don't stop your _pestering_ until that event comes up or I threaten to 'train' you, and considering I'm in a good mood, I'd rather not bring out Bob." He gave a nod after several seconds of tense silence before they both nearly jumped in tune at the chime of a clock, nearly pulling out their weapons before realizing it was nothing. She took one moment to look at the time, seeing one hand point to a three, and the other, longer one point to directly up at the twelve.

It was certainly late then, if the clock was correct… which somewhat made sense as to why Shiro-san was up, he was normally up a bit before three.

Silence engulfed them for a seemingly long time, before she gave a sigh. Really, she was terrible at speaking to people, she knew it and didn't even try to rectify it, preferring to just fight and hunt the people she was told to go after. What it came down to most however, was a simple little fact that had been found all the way back to when the Bureau was just founded, 'An Ace cannot understand a Human, a Human cannot understand an Ace'.

Another sigh left her, a hand meeting her cheek as she leaned on it, eyes half-closed as she tried to at least make sure they didn't end on a bad note as they always did, they may not get along well, or at all, but they were still family. "I _know_ you have no desire to be an Ace, Chrono. I didn't either, I'd rather be back home hunting and playing with my 'Sister'. Life said otherwise and here we are in a situation neither of us want to be in."

"Sometimes though, we have to do things we don't want to, become things we don't want to without a choice. Sometimes we have to give up more than just our lives and futures for the sake of something we want." A pause as she took a short breath, straightening out in her seat and letting her back crack silently, before continuing on with her little speech. "Why do you think, despite every single instance we've been in, I've always tried to do it myself when everything goes bad?" There was short period of silence as Chrono stewed over her words before shaking his head slowly, looking directly into her eyes before casually stating a single fact.

"… You're a terrible parent." She let out a snort at the blunt statement, laughing more at the truth of it than anything else really, out of everyone she knew, she _was_ the worst parent, having no good role models by the Bureau's standards, nor having even known who her parents had been, or raised by a semi-decent parent figure.

Really, she was probably one of the worst people to so much as even think about having a kid, short only from her 'Sister', there were better chances for Rain on Calnarog than 'Sister' having a child. That said, she felt the need to give a reply to Chrono, and considering it was the truth, she may as well justify it as best as she could, as well as a little hope for him in the inevitable case he did become an Ace. It was in his blood after all.

"Comes with being an Ace unfortunately, at least it does for me. Who knows, if you become an Ace, despite your wishes otherwise, you might prove that 'tradition' wrong. For sure though, you'd be-" Directly following the last word, she let out a yawn, blearily blinking away the sleep from her eyes before stretching. Well, looked like it was time to go to sleep, despite everything happening, she'd probably stayed up too late again anyway.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Chrono-kun, wake me up if something happens alright?" Getting a curt affirmative from him, she let out another yawn before rubbing one of her eyes and began walking off before stopping herself. "Oh Chrono-kun?" Her Chrono stopped his own movement towards the outside and looked back, a bit of confusion written into his face at her call, abnormal as this was. "Don't stay up too late Tinkering, and please don't fall asleep out there again. You need sleep more than I do." A hesitant nod was given before returned it with one of her own and a smile, another hesitant nod given before he quickly vacated the room, a light giggle let out after he was gone before she quieted and let a soft smile settled.

And with that she turned around and resumed her journey to her room and get some sleep and rest up for a likely annoying night tomorrow. Yes, sleep sounded like a good idea… last time she slept was somewhere between forty and sixty hours ago, bad for an average human, uncomfortable for her and her people.

She didn't even recall reaching her room before sleep found her.

* * *

 _She dreamed of home… no it wasn't really a 'dream', more of a memory that she could recall vividly and interact with as if she were reliving it. Not as if she really even knew the difference between a 'dream' and a memory, she'd never had a dream before, life on Calnarog didn't afford that luxury, and even now she didn't have effort to spare to try._

' _Sister' had told her about a few she had experienced, each one different from the other, with only the fact that they were memories of their childhood being the thing in common. Some were simple little things like sitting with 'Father' and herself and watching the stars before sleeping, others were hunting and learning magic. There was always something important to them though that made 'Sister' remember them, even if it was nothing more than a simple activity that would be forgotten by anyone else._

 _Life and its many moments of beauty and kindness. They were treasured on the harsh world of Calnarog._

 _Her 'dream', it had her standing amidst the violet plains, where her tribe had settled down for the moment as they followed the river back to the meeting grounds, she felt smaller, far smaller than she had since she'd left for the Bureau… She must have been only three years old by the Mid-Childan calendar at that time, nowhere near a year by Calnarog's calendar._

 _It was the first time she'd been let out from her dwelling, the plains weren't a place for a child to wander, not with the amount of danger present, and she'd been captivated by everything outside, her tribesmen, the cloudless sky, the violet grass that crunched underfoot. She saw the dwellings, little… 'tents' made of loose metal sheets, materials that acted just the same as hide from another world, she saw the firepits, stacked with rock and red crystals for the night._

 _She saw home again, and it was as perfect as it had been back then._

 _There weren't many people moving around, most were gone and those that were left were protectors of the young today, or the young themselves. 'Sister' had just gone on her hunt, the first that she got to lead into the vast plains, and 'Father' had gone on his own solitary hunt before the other parties went off. Of course, they weren't 'Sister' and 'Father' yet, she hadn't met them until she was five._

 _She'd just been a nameless orphan, kept around only because she was albino, and albinos on Calnarog meant strength. The Anzen had proved that time after time._

 _Yet, even though she was fed, given water and clothing, no one in the tribe had given her anything that wasn't given to others, she had no trinkets, no things made with love. All she had was a lonely tent, and two bowls for food and water._

 _She didn't know better then, she still really didn't, but it didn't matter. She saw Calnarog, she saw home. She saw her people, her tribe. And she laughed a happy tune and went out to play amidst the tents, ignoring each and every other person she wandered across._

 _Calnarog was her home, and she'd always return there, preferably when she was done fighting… she wanted to hunt another Anzen._

 _She drifted off to sleep, content for once since she'd left home. Even if they were just memories, they made her weary mind feel safe again. It was so much simpler back then, with not a single heartbreak or wrathful rage… it was so much simpler being the little girl without a name._

* * *

It was raining outside.

She felt sad as she cradled the broken handle between her hands. A single word left her lips, hollow without a single thing in it.

"Okaa-sama…"

A grudge was made, the only one since the ending days of the Shoguns. She didn't care about the traditions she broke by doing so, nor the fact that she'd end this only in the _murder_ of that Knight.

She was sad, she was angry. Okaa-sama's sword would taste blood one more time before going to sleep.

* * *

 _AN: It's not regeneration, that implies there's no cost involved. It's all a matter of perspective, not everyone knows everything about a person they just met, not even if they had information on them beforehand._


	16. Ascent III

_Amount of Hugs needed: 11,217_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 6,389_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

He woke up to sunlight and something nudging his face, unpleasant things that he'd rather not have been bothered by.

Blinking his eyes open, he found himself face down in the grass, an odd irritation bubbling up that he'd fallen asleep before he managed to finish tinkering on his 'combat' arm, all that was left was some fine-tuning to the connections to his nerves, and the actual component that would separate from his current arm. That didn't matter though as he got up, immediately squinting and covering his eyes from the harsh sunlight, a lilting giggle making his head turn and, as the glare lessened, let him see who decided to wake him up.

"You certainly seem to enjoy sleeping out here, Chrono-san." Miyuki, with her always-present, gentle smile was there to greet him, one of her sheathed swords in her hand, the other nowhere in sight, was there to greet him warmly. His irritation lessened considerably the moment he spotted her, seeing as it wasn't Mother that decided to wake him up with a 'scolding', and Miyuki was a lot nicer than any of the others that were willing to wake him.

Picking himself up off the ground, he let out a yawn before proceeding to try and figure out what he had been doing, eventually giving a reply after Miyuki passed by his little work area and headed into the Dojo. "I was finishing up something, lost track of time and passed out." Another giggle was the immediate response to his words, making him stop for a moment before moving back to the incomplete arm, asking a question as he went about checking it over. "What time is it?"

"About eight in the morning." … Four hours… maybe even three... not as bad as mother's sleep schedule, but it was terrible for a normal human raised on Mid-Childa, he'd have to make up for it tonight, but that didn't matter right now. He didn't pause once while that thought processed slowly, body running on auto-pilot as he put the last finishing touches on the connection.

With that finished, at least until he could get the last few parts, he set the limb off to the side and brought out S2U, switching her over to her active state and setting her on the table. There wasn't much that he was going to do with her, no ideas popped into his head on how to improve on her on top of his reluctance to even try such when he had no idea how her A.I. would handle it, which just left basic maintenance.

There was no reason he had to do it himself, at least, the finding of any potential issues, S2U could do that herself, the only reason he _did_ was because it was something he enjoyed doing and it would help lessen the irritation and slight anger towards the Admiral for last night's conversation. Sure, it had been his fault partially since he was the one that pressed, but it still didn't give her the right to remind him of _then_. "You are a good blacksmith, Chrono-san."

He stopped in his work the moment she said that, a sigh leaving his lips as he 'corrected' her for what felt like the fiftieth time since he'd started, "I'm a _Tinkerer_ , not a Blacksmith. Blacksmiths don't work with processing equipment." Yet again, he received the exact same response from Miyuki, a nod from her position at the building's porch before she went inside without another word.

Another sigh left his mouth, this one instead being one of relief that he no longer _had_ to spar with Miyuki, though he still did it on occasion just to keep what little ability he had, and could just focus on his tinkering. While he could safely say the time spent wasn't wasted, and would probably come in handy at some point, the process had him sore throughout the entire time he spent in her care with little time to devote to his projects.

That said… he was somewhat confused why Miyuki would just watch him work after doing a few routines, it wasn't like he was lighting the forge, so whatever she found attractive about fire wasn't the reason for her watching him. On top of that, barely anyone outside himself, that he knew of personally, had ever been interested in forging and putting things together, and he had come to expect most other to be the same.

Whatever the case was, it didn't matter much, seeing as she didn't interrupt him in his work, and was content to just watch with her smile in place and curiosity written on her face. Miyuki probably would be around a bit later, after she was done with her daily exercise.

Until then, he had a few adjustments to make, S2U chirping in his ear as she normally did during these little reprieves, she couldn't speak, not unless it was pre-programmed into her, so he got used to what the chirps meant, for the most part. The current set was her displaying either annoyance or preening at the attention he was giving her, he assumed it would be the latter.

* * *

She didn't leave her room like she did every other morning, instead staying inside on her bed staring at Okaa-sama's sword with a blank look. She tried to smile, she tried to keep Okaa-sama's promise, but anger and sadness clouded her thoughts and made it hard to attempt to keep the promise. Razing Heart said nothing to her as she 'sulked' and the whispers were gone when she woke up.

There was a knock on the door, she didn't say anything nor move to open it, ignoring it to focus solely on Okaa-sama's blade. Another, more forceful knock on the door, caused her to look up at the door and softly mutter, "Come in."

The door opened without any noise, and there standing at the doorframe was Otou-sama, his eyes focused on her, taking in her face before immediately flicking to Okaa-sama's sword, letting a soft smile adorn his face as he walked forward. Without another word, he made his way to just in front of her and knelt down, quietly taking her into an embrace, that she wordlessly returned. It felt strange to be hugged, she only ever got hugs from Arisa and Suzuka.

The hug barely lasted a few seconds after she returned it, Otou-sama pulling back and standing back up, a soft smile replacing his normal expressionless face, she briefly wondered why. There was a long period of silence before she stood up, placing what remained of Okaa-sama's blade back into its sheathe before she did, and waited for whatever Otou-sama had to say. "Your sword arrived twenty minutes ago. It's waiting for you to come and get it."

Her sword? It wasn't due to arrive for another week at least, that was what Otou-sama had last said, unless something came up and allowed for it to arrive well before it was supposed to be here. Otou-sama wouldn't lie to her about this though, he wouldn't lie to her at all, withhold the truth until she asked about it specifically yes, but never lie. Which meant he was telling her the truth.

With that thought firmly placed, she watched Otou-sama exit her room before walking out after him, taking Okaa-sama's blade and sheathe with her and placing them by her side. The walk seemed longer than every other time, whether due to her downcast attitude or from something else, but eventually they got there.

Chrono, Yuuno and Onee-sama were immediately found upon entering the 'living room' and 'kitchen' of the house, her guest flexing his left hand slowly and deliberately while Onee-sama watched with interest, Yuuno reading something at the table, seemingly entranced with whatever he was reading. Onee-sama must have enjoyed Chrono's presence if she was near or with him as much as she had been, she barely was around anyone specific unless she was supposed to be somewhere.

Aside from them two and Otou-sama, no one else was in the room, which immediately drew her eye to the only thing that was out of place, a single wrapped package… far smaller than she expected, sitting on the table. Making her way towards it, and drawing attention from Chrono and Onee-sama in the process, she found her somber mood shift to plain confusion. Her blade was supposed to be an odachi, something just above a meter in total length with the handle included, not something barely reaching half of one.

Shortly after reaching the table, she reached out and took hold of the package silently, mostly to not startle Yuuno and cause him to accidently ruin the scroll, the thing was heavier than expected of the size, but nothing that would be a problem. Like everything sent by Takamachi, it was the bare basics of a package, brown wrappings covering the item and enough space in it to not have the shape of the object show, not that she expected any different.

Quickly she peeled away the wrapping, removing layer after layer until the item inside was revealed. A weapon of some kind that _looked_ like it was made in the style of Japanese blades… only, it had the hilt length of an Odachi, and barely a fourth of the blade length necessary. There was no sheathe with it, which was strange since swords normally were paired with a sheathe, and the blade didn't have a point… also strange.

Taking hold of it, she calmly walked outside onto the grass, her prior mood permanently gone as she puzzled over what exactly the smiths of Hogo-sha had crafted for her. Its blade was too wide for a normal sword as well, though there were little… How did they get this thing to even work without falling apart?

"Not to be rude or anything..." Harlaown-sama was up it seemed, and judging by the fact that she said that, she was either talking to her or Chrono-san. That said she didn't pay the words much mind, she needed to figure out how to make this thing do what it was meant to… maybe a flick would work? "… but that thing doesn't look very pract-"

With more force than what was probably necessary, she flicked the blade out to the side, watching as the blade shot out to its proper length and listening as Harlaown-sama's words trailed off.

… Her sword was bigger than her at the moment, probably a decimeter or two taller just from a cursory look, with four metal segments forming the metal blade, each progressively thinner the last. How the smiths had managed to make a telescopic blade, using only forging techniques, and maybe some other honed technique, would be a mystery that would be solved another time. She had more pressing matters to attend to right now.

She felt her smile come back to life as she inspected the blade, aside from it being collapsible, there was nothing about it that was purely decorational, it was a plain grey metal without a single decoration to the blade, the hilt had no tsuba, and the handle itself was wrapped in grey cloth. Nothing special aside from the blade itself, and that was completely fine.

"… Never mind then. Seems you have that figured out." Looking back at Harlaown-sama as she finished speaking let her see the woman give a large yawn, she must have just woken up if she was tired. Once the yawn passed, Harlaown-sama walked off the porch and onto the grass, rubbing at one of her eyes before drowsily taking a drink of her tea.

Passing by with only another sip of tea, Harlaown-sama took several more steps before turning around and looking at her with a light smile in place. "Want to try it out Nanoha-chan?" She gave a nod in return without any words given, walking behind Harlaown-sama as they went over to their spot, while Chrono-san and Onee-sama followed after them, Chrono-san looking a bit… 'sour' for some reason. Whatever the reason was, probably didn't concern her… unless it was because of the Knight from last night.

Then it _did_ concern her.

She stopped that thought before it could fester and turn her back to her somber mood, Okaa-sama wouldn't want that, not when she'd wasted five hours of the day already just sulking. Caught up in her thoughts as she had, she only heard the end of what Harlaown-sama asked her, "-ar or magic?" Since she didn't know what the first, or other options if there were any, were, she chose the only thing she clearly heard.

"Magic." Harlaown-sama didn't give any verbal response to that, just turning on the spot and forming her Device in hand, a few moments later seeing herself socket Razing Heart into her new blade. _"Neue Waffe, Integrationsverarbeitung. Entlüftungsfähigkeit gefunden, Verarbeitung. Verstärkung, Komplett. Integration erfolgreich."_

Surprise worked its way onto her face the moment Razing Heart spoke, she wasn't expecting her to say anything, especially since she hadn't said anything at any other practices, or even when she first got her. Nothing until she became a Seraph, nothing unless it was history or fighting for real. Shortly after that her sword changed, the blade turning white like Okaa-sama's had, while the wrapping turned pink and underneath gold was found.

Harlaown-sama let her compose herself before they started the day's exercise, apparently a continuation of what she'd been trying to learn, elemental change. Unlike before where she'd been taking the training somewhat leisurely, she defaulted to how she'd been back when she first learned magic. The first task, how to change her mana to an element.

The process was ready for the spell that would use it, mana along the blade igniting and producing flame, not a normal one as she wanted to use this in an area without oxygen or another similar gas should she find herself in one like that. She even had the mana ready to be able to accompany the spell… the only issue she had was the simple, yet complex process of changing her mana to something different.

Aside from the basics of trying to make her mana change, Harlaown-sama didn't give her any help and a single bit of advice, which amounted to just 'It's less thinking and more instinct.", not that advice had helped her much. And as her mana coursed along her new blade and covered it in a pink sheen, Razing Heart spoke up again, this time in her head and speaking English. _"You require something so simple as changing your mana to an element? I shall handle that for you my Seraph, as compensation for a wonderful time last night. It is only fair."_

… She only had a moment to try and process that before failing and feeling something… strange inside her. It felt like she was _burning_ from the inside out, smoke filling her throat and lungs, and yet at the same time encompassed in a gentle warmth, as if being embraced by someone cherished and feeling safe. And without any warning whatsoever, her blade ignited in a burst of flame and sound.

Harlaown-sama jumped from relaxed to fully alert at the noise before relaxing again, Onee-sama didn't move, and proceeded to watch her blade with glazed eyes and gentle smile, Chrono-san jumped to his feet startled, immediately reaching for his Device at the noise, and finally came Yuuno-san, rushing out of the house and looking around for the noise before settling his gaze on her before giving a sigh of some kind.

"Well. Looks like you got it under control now, though next time I'd suggest not having mana out until you get better with it." The Admiral's words caused Chrono-san to relax slightly, sitting back down by Onee-sama, tense and ready to spring up again should something else unexpected happen, hopefully that wouldn't be the case. With her actual task done and Harlaown-sama acknowledging she had finished, she let the flames flicker and die away, leaving her blade untouched by anything but Razing Heart.

"Now that you have the actual element conversion down…" Without much pause, Harlaown-sama continued with the lesson, brushing off the sudden surprise with practiced ease, letting her Device form into its active state before finishing her sentence. "… let's move on to what you wanted to learn in the first place."

"To start, focus your mana to your weapon, wherever it is you normally hit something, and let it build up." That was simple enough, far simpler than the previous training since she was already used to doing it without the element added. Barely a few seconds later her blade was again coated in pink flames, little embers falling from the blade before gathering at her side as little motes, Harlaown-sama giving a humming sound before shaking her head and continuing. "Now the second and last step, hit something, and let out every bit of mana gathered in that sword. I'll be your target, try and break through the shield is all."

She heard the instructions, acknowledged them, and waited, the fire letting out a low echoing crackle as she let it build up slowly. There was no reason to rush right now, which meant she could figure out how much mana was necessary to use this properly, rather than just go over the limit and possibly blow herself up. After a minute of waiting, Harlaown-sama brought out the shield she was supposed to break, the green construct of mana lazily spinning around as she held her sword behind her, tip just above the grass and hilt at her side.

She didn't charge at Harlaown-sama, nor did she simply walk towards her, settling for a slow run that closed the distance quickly enough that her teacher would be prepared, and just before she would have rammed into the shield, she swung her sword. Her blade made contact with the shield, metal scraping along mana for a moment before she ignited the mana in the blade.

Both Harlaown-sama and herself weren't prepared for the outcome.

Just a bit earlier, her blade had ignited and let out a small explosion, one that had only surprised everyone around. That time she'd had only the minimum amount of mana coursing through her blade, just enough to keep the augment active. This time she'd built up quite a bit of mana, on top of the augment active.

The outcome of the two meeting was a deafening explosion of pink fire that sent both her and Harlaown-sama skidding away, landing on her back and rolling twice before coming to a stop. Almost _everyone_ in the compound rushed out to see the what was going on, stopping short as they saw her on her back, Harlaown-sama crouched with her hammer brought up in a block, and Chrono-san and Yuuno-san ducking. Also, there was a patch of grass now on fire, but that was extinguished quickly, so that was barely worth mentioning.

Seeing that they weren't under attack, and that neither her nor Harlaown-sama were injured, the crew of the _Arthra_ , relaxed slightly, while Chrono-san and Yuuno-san got back up, the latter visibly shocked at what just happened. Harlaown-sama summed up what just happened in three words, though, it probably wasn't the best way to put it.

"… That was unexpected."

* * *

Training didn't last long after that, mostly because Harlaown-sama didn't want anything else to explode without warning, especially when she had barely put a few drops of her mana reserves into the spell, on top of wanting both of them in good shape for a trip around the city later. There wasn't anything in particular they were going out and doing, mostly just walk around and do whatever Harlaown-sama, and technically Chrono-san, wanted to do as they came upon it.

It was surprising the sheer amount of things Harlaown-sama found interesting here, almost like she'd never seen some of these little comforts in her life. On top of that, with the interest was something else… what exactly she had no idea since it was Harlaown-sama.

Anyway, there was nothing for her do, her chores were finished by Otou-sama, something that made her feel a little guilty, she didn't want to train and make Harlaown-sama's trip short because she was tired. Nor did she have _anything_ to keep her occupied… usually there was work, training, or some errand to run, but today was quiet, and while she could go into the forest… she knew that place like the back of her hand. There was nothing for her to do, and it made her uncomfortable.

" _Aren't you forgetting something, little Seraph?"_ Razing Heart? Why was she talking, and why did a bit of amusement leak through her words?

She didn't spend much time on that thought, instead 'hurrying' to answer her Device before she was rude or something similar. "Sorry, I just thought you would like to not be disturbed today, and I already asked for help already from you." She felt a tinge of annoyance replace the amusement Razing Heart was feeling, immediately understanding that she'd said _something_ wrong, though not particularly sure what.

" _My Seraph. You can disturb me anytime, so long as you use me often enough in a fight. Though you are not worthy of my name, you are my user and I shall help and guide you until the day you fall from the sky."_ … Oh, both of the things she'd said had made Razing Heart annoyed… she'd at least file that away for later use, in the hope she'd not make the mistake again. _"Perhaps when you reach the zenith of your flight, your accomplishments will be worthy of receiving my name."_

She didn't understand what Razing Heart meant with the phrases she used, not fully anyway. The gist was somewhat easy to comprehend, but the words used didn't make sense, at least not yet they didn't.

Still, she consented that Razing Heart was right, and nodded her head, the annoyance in her head abating and leaving her alone for a while, letting her thoughts swirl about without interruption. There wasn't much on her mind really, just continuing to try and figure out what to actually do besides just talk with Razing Heart about, something that was productive in addition to wasting time. Unfortunately, she found nothing to do that satisfied that criteria and wouldn't end up with her not feeling good enough.

The moment she thought that, Razing Heart spoke again without her asking her anything, something that was gradually confusing her more and more.

" _Would you like to use any other elements, little Seraph?"_ Razing Heart's question was unexpected, for several reasons, chief among them being before today, Razing Heart never did anything for her outside of a battle, and now twice she'd offered help. Still she found herself answering after a moment's pause. "No… Perhaps another time in the future, I'll ask then. Thank you, for helping and the offer."

A tittering laugh met her response, something she wasn't really expecting considering Razing Heart seemed like a person that would never get amused and show it through sound. _"I require no thanks, my Seraph. Only provide more fights for the both of us, and all will be fine. It is nice, to feel the thrill of battle again."_ She only gave a nod in response, agreeing with the last part and acknowledging the other two, she could understand what Razing Heart's statements meant and felt.

Still, she'd voice her thanks to Razing Heart whenever she wanted to in the future, regardless of what Razing Heart said, she deserved it after everything she'd done for her.

It was only fair.

* * *

She didn't engage in any more conversation with Razing Heart, instead getting up and walking out of the house, pausing only to get a grindstone, and into the forest away from everyone else. The rest of the time until the trip was spent listening to the forest whistles and rustling as she sharpened her blade, it wasn't necessary, not yet at least, but it was the only thing that felt productive among the completed tasks of the day.

Eventually it came time for her to leave the serenity of the forest, reluctant as she was to leave the place and noises making her calm and forgetting the past night. It barely took a minute for her to emerge from the forest, having not gone too far into the trees in preparation for the coming trip, by then none of her guests were waiting on her to arrive. Good for her, she wasn't late by accident from not having any form of tracking time set up.

Another, maybe two minutes were spent waiting at the entrance before Harlaown-sama came up to the gate, dragging a reluctant Chrono-san behind her, stopping at the gate when she saw her. Only a single sentence was said, conveyed in the normal cheery voice Harlaown-sama had, "Shall we?" A nod was given gracefully, before they went off towards the city, still dragging the reluctant Chrono-san behind them.

The walk was long, and aside from the occasional rambling from Harlaown-sama or argument between mother and son about him being here, silent, not because they didn't want to talk, but more because there wasn't anything _to_ talk about, the road was bordered by trees almost the entire way after all. After several more minutes they arrived at the outskirts of the city proper, Harlaown-sama immediately taking the lead and walking off in a random direction without a care where she was going.

There was no rhyme or reason to Harlaown-sama's path through the city, the sole exception being that they never stopped moving. She passed by stores that held almost all manner of objects, that were legal, and aside from looking through the windows on a few places, she paid them no attention whatsoever. They walked for an hour, then two, then three before Chrono-san started giving out before Harlaown-sama _finally_ found a store to go in. Chrono-san thanked someone called the 'Saint-King' for their mercy, which was strange, it hadn't been that long a walk.

Both her and Chrono-san entered the store shortly after Harlaown-sama, her guest garnering a few glances of curiosity before people went back to their business, not unexpected considering Chrono-san was walking around in his Barrier Jacket, minus the spikes and having the metal gloves replaced with cloth. While it wasn't as bad as with her and Harlaown-sama, it was still noticeable that people took notice of him.

After passing by clothing stores, something she thought most other girls enjoyed shopping at, electronic stores, something Chrono-san looked interested in going into, 'toy' stores, which were plain strange, and all manner of other places, it came as a surprise that a jewelry store was where Harlaown-sama wanted to stop.

The store they were in wasn't big, maybe fitting ten customers comfortably along with two employees behind a counter, with only a few shelves with gems lining the walls and pieces of jewelry and the counter in the middle of the room. Aside from them three, there was only the two employees and two other people browsing the assorted items on the shelves, which was honestly a bit surprising given the time of day and the location. Near to the center of the city and nearing the sunset _should_ have had a few more people than what was here… but apparently not.

They stayed for less than ten minutes, Harlaown-sama looking over each of shelves quickly while they followed behind, Chrono-san flexing 'his' fingers with a frown marring his face, before moving over to the counter. The clerk gave the customary 'How can I help you?' as Harlaown-sama walked up, her guest giving a smile before cheerily asking, "Do you have any whole gems?"

Harlaown-sama's question caused the clerk to blink once before the question registered, confusion painted on the young man's face before he replied. "I'll have to go check ma'am, I'll be back shortly." The man walked out from behind the counter towards the back of the store, going through a door that likely led to a storeroom. A few minutes passed by before he came back with nothing in his hands, revealing the answer well before he got back and spoke again. "I'm afraid we don't Ms. Is there anything else you need?"

"No that will be all, thank you." Harlaown-sama didn't seem the least bit disappointed that they were out, still smiling as saw the clerk bow his head, before turning and walking out of the store, Chrono-san giving a sigh before they followed her out. Once out however, Harlaown-sama's demeanor became a bit more dejected, a sigh let out as she shook her head slowly, before saying... something strange. "Mou… It's been too long since I tasted one of those…"

…What?

She had zero time to ponder over what that meant before her guest was walking away again towards somewhere, both her and a similarly dumbfounded Chrono-san shaking themselves before running after Harlaown-sama.

They continued on their trip through the city without much else happening, eventually ending up in one of the parks dotting the city just as sunset began. It was almost time to leave and go back home, until Suzuka-chan came into view sitting on a bench, surrounded by three others, Hayate-chan in her wheelchair, the pink-haired woman standing just behind Hayate-chan and a blonde-haired woman sitting as well. Instantly Suzuka-chan brightened as she caught sight of her, Hayate-chan and the blonde woman turning to look as well and finding the three of them.

Before any of them were so much as prepared, with Suzuka-chan about to call her over likely, Harlaown-sama beat everyone, having a delighted expression in place as she quickly picked up the pace and shouted two names out. "Shamal! Signum!" The only one not stunned into silence and place was the pink-haired woman, looking over her shoulder in their direction before focusing on the Admiral and turning fully to face her.

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she quickly made after Harlaown-sama, followed a few seconds later by Chrono-san, while giving a small wave at Suzuka-chan and Hayate-chan, who after a few seconds more shook themselves and waved back. The pink-haired woman walked out from behind Hayate-chan and towards Harlaown-sama, a small smile forming on the near-blank face she had before both women were in front of one another.

A quick embrace was given, something three of the five onlookers weren't expecting given their reactions, though why wouldn't make sense to her or to Suzuka-chan likely since they didn't know the two well. Both Lindy and the other woman separated, each looking over the other before Hayate-chan's 'caretaker' spoke in a blank, yet warm voice. "Lindy, you look well. I see you've grown a bit since we last saw one another."

A laugh was let out, happy and carefree as it normally was, before Harlaown-sama gave a reply after looking over the woman again. "You haven't aged a day Signum, hard to believe it's been so long." While her guest said that she went over and sat down next to Suzuka-chan, idly noticing she was a bit more subdued than normal, which was enough to make her curious. "Neither has Shamal too. Oh, where are my manners." Turning to Hayate-chan, she gave a sight bow and a bit of an… 'acceptable' flourish. "I'm Harlaown Lindy in your tongue. What's your name Kiddo?"

Hayate-chan looked worse up close, her skin was pale, her hands shaking and there was stutter to every word she said… something was _very_ wrong if she was like that. "H-haya-te… Y-ya-gami Haya-te." Shortly after saying those words, Hayate-chan lapsed into a coughing fit, immediately making Shamal quickly move over to her and begin worriedly looking over her, while Signum stopped and looked over in something close to concern.

"Are you alright Yagami-san?" No answer was forthcoming, as the girl was still embroiled in a coughing fit, her entire body shaking as she tried and failed to contain the coughing fit before eventually it ended, still leaving her shaking in her wheelchair.

It took a while for Hayate-chan to speak again, entire body shaking before another set of weak and stuttered words were said. "I… I'm al-ri-gh-t… I… I jus-t ne-need res-rest. We-we've b-been ou-t t-oo lon-g an-any-wa-y." Harlaown-sama didn't seem to believe that, but let it slide, as she gave a nod of understanding, closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and giving a sad smile.

"I see… may I talk with Signum for a short time before you all leave?" Hayate-chan gave a weak smile before trying to give a nod, not trusting her voice to not give out on her, Harlaown-sama about to turn away before catching sight of Suzuka-chan, a nervous laugh leaving her. "Sorry to ignore you Tsukimura-san, friends and new people come first, and then the sickness..." Suzuka-chan merely shook her head, muttering that she wasn't bothered before sidling closer to her with a faint scattering of pink on her cheeks, Harlaown-sama giving a nod before chatting with Signum. She didn't understand why that was there, that hadn't happened before.

Hayate-chan noticed them together, a weak smile forming as she gave a giggle, one thankfully not interrupted by a coughing fit. After a few moments of comfortable silence, where Suzuka-chan leaned into her, Hayate-chan. "Y-you t-two… loo-k a-ador-able to-ge-geth-er." Suzuka-chan went a little redder in her cheeks but didn't move or say anything at all, so she didn't move either, and so they stayed like that.

Harlaown-sama stood back with Signum and Chrono-san, far enough away that she could barely hear them talk over Shamal fussing over Hayate-chan, but she still could hear them. "It's just like before, isn't it?" The question was addressed to the sole person who would understand probably, the answer being a simple nod of Signum's head. "I see… so it's terminal." Another nod, and a sadness descended on her, just as it did for Harlaown-sama, while Chrono-san just looked shocked for a moment before pity overcame his features.

Without any thought, Chrono-san walked over to Hayate-chan, drawing the frail girl's attention along with everyone but Suzuka-chan's, who was content to apparently start dozing off on her, not that she minded, attention on him. Standing in front of Hayate-chan, he showed not a trace of his earlier pity, only a cold, blank face that probably unnerved Hayate-chan and made Shamal tense. After a few moments of tense silence, Chrono-san reached forwards with 'his' hand, offering it out as a brief little smile flickered across his face. "Chrono Harlaown. A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Yagami, Ms. Shamal."

Hayate-chan tentatively reached a shaking hand out to grasp Chrono-san's, holding the grasp for a moment before letting go and nodding her head weakly, once more not saying anything as a coughing fit overtook her. Shamal inclined her head, and spoke for the both of them, voice holding only a semblance of courtesy as she worried over Hayate-chan, "Just Shamal, and Hayate would prefer being called Hayate-chan, so long as she can call you by your first name."

A nod was all that was given in response to that, her younger guest turning back to Hayate-chan and staring at her for a while, the younger girl staring back despite her ailment before Chrono-san asked her a simple question. "Would you like to hear a little about my home?"

A simple question, yet one that evoked an excited look from Hayate-chan, one that managed to ease the shaking and cause her to speak again, her voice a bit stronger, and less full of wavering stutters. "Y-yes. I'd l-lik-e tha-at. A-are you f-fr-om the sa-me pla-ce as Signum a-and Shamal?" A hesitant nod came as her answer, making her light up even more and Shamal to have a confused expression for a moment before it settled back to worried smile.

And then Chrono-san began to tell Hayate-chan about his home, something she tuned out, mostly having heard it from Yuuno-san before and having zero interest to hearing it again.

Not much else happened after that, Signum and Harlaown-sama talked for a while more about things that she couldn't understand, she let Suzuka-chan rest against her, and Chrono-san started telling Hayate-chan about a few things about the Bureau's worlds that left her hanging on each word in wonder. Soon though they had to leave, by then Suzuka-chan was lightly breathing and was near asleep, and she had no intention of waking up Suzuka-chan up, she activated Macht and picked her up gently and held her close to her, her friend curling up against her and letting out a contented noise.

There were a few goodbyes given, and then they were off to home with Hayate-chan and her caretakers leaving in the opposite direction, she'd have to let Suzuka-chan's Kaa-sama know she would be over at her home, so the woman didn't worry. She'd just have to find a place for Suzuka-chan to sleep, easier said than done… she could take her own bed, and save the hassle.

Yes, that would work well enough. Now all that was needed was to get home and tuck Suzuka-chan in… and find herself someplace to sleep, a tree branch would do well enough.

* * *

 _Today was the day he could get started, Auntie Lotte was going to help him in making his own Device, and after that he would be testing it out with the few spells he had been taught so far._

 _Before today, he'd been using a Device called Durandal, a… strange Device that called him 'Squire' for some reason, and for some reason it/he had decided to teach him a few things as well. Nothing too intensive, just a few elemental spells and some basic spells, alongside with Auntie's more specialized spells. Now though, he could probably give Durandal back to Grandpa, at least when his device was_

 _"Chrono. Don't forget to add the vents." He only gave a nod, concentrating as he was making his Device, Auntie behind him peering at the half-way finished base, before moving off to go collect some other materials for him. Auntie was sweet and kind, always treating him as if he was her own rather than just her little nephew, it felt nice to feel that, when Mommy was out fighting bad guys and never got a chance to come home._

 _His device, it was tradition or something like it to not give a Device their name until they were 'awake' and complete from what Auntie said, was fairly simple as far as devices went. It was meant to be a stave, one with a head that could be used to hit people, and made from metal to ensure it wouldn't break easily. Grandpa had taught him that other, more basic devices were much fragiler than they looked, which was why he chose to make the active form and afterwards use mana to make the standby form._

 _His thinking didn't distract him, it never did when it came to making things for whatever reason, and already he was finishing slotting in the hardware necessary for the handle to take mana to the head of the stave. Once finished with that, he got up from his current table, walked four steps back, picked up the other half of the handle and went back to the beginning table. He'd already made or gathered everything he needed, with help from Auntie Lotte, so all that was left was to put everything together._

 _It didn't take long for him to finish the handle up, a light application of fire to weld the two was all that was needed for that part in particular, and that was something Auntie could do with ease when he asked her for help. The next part to work on was far, far harder, due to the compact space for all the equipment necessary for the device to function and where he'd have to figure out where the vents were going._

 _He… he had forgotten entirely about the vents while designing his device, and now he had to quickly come up with something, otherwise he'd be delayed for a day or two. Hmm…_

 _Yet again he continued to work while he thought on the problem, stopping only when Auntie came over and tapped his shoulder, handing over the handle that he'd left for her at the other table with a smile. He gave a smile and "Thank you." in return before turning back to the head and stopping. What if he… yes, yes that would solve several small issues he found._

 _A little 'wing' added to the base where the handle and head met, for space to house some components he would be taking from the head and mark the back of the Device, and add a slot on the head, opposite to the 'wing', to act as his vent. Two simple solutions considering the head had yet to be assembled, and there was a lot of materials ready to be shaped into the proper form. So off he went to collect the pieces of metal somewhere in the room, while Auntie Lotte watched him run around with a smile still on her face._

 _The only thing that ruined Auntie's expression was the sadness in her eyes, she always had that though, except when she was extremely proud of him, like learning how to use elemental magic in a few days' time. Even Grandpa was impressed and proud of him for that, though he had no idea why, he was just happy to be praised and loved._

 _Soon enough he had everything he needed to make the final two pieces to his device, asking again for Auntie's help to weld the vent system and head together while he finished putting the electronics into the 'wing'. After that was done, he handed the 'wing' over to Auntie Lotte and took the head she gave over, taking the handle in hand as well and connecting the two without waiting for the 'wing' to be finished. Auntie would be welding it all when she finished the 'wing'._

 _She didn't take long to finish up the 'wing', and soon enough the device found itself complete and handed back to him before being placed on the table in front of him. Now all that was left to do was activate it and give them their name._

 _His device was not an Intelligent Device, not like Grandpa's or Durandal, it was a simple Storage Device with a trapping of intellect, not enough to speak, but enough to be aware and be able to 'think' for itself if he asked it something. With a sudden bout of hesitation filling him, he waited for several seconds before Auntie put a hand on his shoulder, surprise replacing the hesitation as he looked up at her. "Go on, wake them up."_

 _With Auntie's reassurance, confidence flooded through him as he gave a nod and channeled a bit of mana through his Device, several seconds passing by in silence before several low-pitched chirps echoed through the room. Ecstatic joy showed in his posture as he barely forced himself to not jump into the air, another set of chirps drawing his attention, before he, as calmly as possible, began talking._

" _Hello, I'm Chrono." Chirping, questioning it seemed like, though to what he had no idea. "I made you, so I'm your boss, alright?" More chirping, sounding a bit happier than the prior set, making him smile in return._

" _S2U."_ _Confused chirps, or at least ones that sounded confused followed the name he'd chosen, interrupting him before he had a chance to say what the word meant to his device. "That's your name." Several seemingly happy chirps told him his Device had heard him, and apparently approved of the name. A smile graced his face as he looked down at S2U, another series of chirps let out happily before he asked a question of his Device, curious to see if it actually would respond._

" _Now, would you like to be used in training." A long series of seemingly excited chirps made him laugh without a care in the world, Auntie giving off both pride and joy towards him as he snatched S2U from the table and walked out just before she did._


	17. Ascent IV

_Amount of Hugs needed: 13,622_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 6758_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

"Who the hell is that woman, why does she know us, and _how_ do _you_ know her!?"

She expected the questions, they always came after a new Master was chosen by the Tome, it was just a manner of when after the Master was chosen. Honestly, she was slightly surprised it had taken them so long to figure out something was off, the last three times they had asked in the first month, and this time it took them over half a year.

Were she as she was when they were created and the Masters after, she'd be a little amused, as it was she'd long lost amusement, barely managing to keep happiness and sadness after the millennia of pragmatism and pain. The Tome's history… was not one of levity, not since the fourth Master lived.

Her lack of response caused Vita to grow angered and berate her again, not eliciting even a hint of annoyance in her, she'd endured through it time after time before, what was one more added to it? "Answer me Signum! How does she know us, and how do you know her?!" She didn't mind the tone, she was used to it, what she did mind was the volume Vita was speaking at, far too loud for what was supposed to be a private conversation between the Wolkenritter.

"Keep your voice down. You'll wake Hayate." Immediately Vita shrank in response to the words she used, the cold and blank voice given and the implications of waking their Master from her sleep, the only time she wasn't in any true pain. A few moments were taken for Vita to understand before she continued in the same voice, devoid of anything that could be considered alive, "Her name is Lindy Harlaown, she is an Admiral of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau, as well as an S-rank Ace."

"As for how she knows us, and we know her…" She deliberately paused, all three of her fellow Knights, listening attentively, even Vita who still looked dejected for her earlier 'blunder', and waiting for the answer to their collective question. "… her brother-in-law was our prior Master." Immediately all of them moved back, both confused and worried by her little revelation to them.

"We were… we were her friends?" She gave a nod at Shamal's question, truthfully only she was Lindy's friend, the others being more concerned about their last Master and his brother rather than Lindy, but Lindy considered them all friends, at least she had, it was still… uncertain if she saw the others as friends after the long time since.

Zafira was silent, he had been since the beginning of their impromptu meeting, having seen no reason to speak since both Vita and Shamal had asked the questions all of them had from what the Admiral had said. He was silent, until a question was asked without any warning, "How long ago was it. Since we were Knights to that man?"

She was prepared to answer that question, it always came up, sooner or later it always came up. Whether from one of the Wolkenritter, to their Master asking about the past Masters, to some random person arriving and telling them how long it had been, the question always came up, and thus she was prepared. "It takes twelve years for the Tome to reform after the last Master perishes. Twelve years from the exact date of their death."

For a while after that none of them said anything, her because he had nothing to say until one of 'siblings' asked her another question, while the other three digested the information she'd just said in silence. Eventually Zafira spoke up again, this time with an entirely differently question only somewhat related to what they had been talking about. "Can you beat her?"

A nod was her first answer, followed closely by words as she calmly stated a fact that had been 'law' for a long, _long_ time, even if she was the only one to know of it truly. "Without a doubt. Though I'd prefer not to fight her."

"Why not?" Shamal was the one who said that, a few seconds after her own statement, the words processed quickly and the answer coming to mind easily, though the sentence evaded her for the moment, due to how vague the question was.

Before she had a chance to answer, Vita barged in with an addition to the question, making a bit more… 'precise' than Shamal's more general question, something that she didn't even give a reaction to, trivial things like that didn't bother her anymore. A shame really. "What possible reason could you have to not fight her?"

"Some things are far more precious than loyalty to a Master, and it is due to her that I was supposed to experience that." Confusion from the other three came forward, they wouldn't understand no matter how hard they tried or she told them, they were too different from one another despite being 'siblings'. It even showed with Vita putting aside most of her confusion to ask a question, one that she'd heard only once before.

"What could possibly be more 'precious' than Hayate?"

There was no answer, she wouldn't say and even if she did the others wouldn't understand, all they knew was service to a Master, their memories of the past Master discarded upon their summoning… she was different from them. She remembered, from the day they were created to now, with the only holes being her Masters' names and how they died. Every single little thing was a crystal-clear memory, waiting to be remembered, and that was only _her_ memories, the other three's… she had to concentrate.

She was broken out of her reverie when Vita stood up, annoyance littering her posture as she changed into her Knight Clothing, causing her to nearly frown and narrow her eyes as she started walking towards the door, Zafira getting up with a sigh as well. "Whatever, I-"

She interrupted the younger Knight with a stern voice, causing the girl to falter and the other two to switch their attention back to her. "You will not go hunting tonight." Vita whirled around to face her, fury dominating her expression as she nearly stomped back to her and nearly brought out Graf Eisen, hissing out two words at her.

" _What! Why!_ " Narrowing her eyes caused Vita to back down slightly, still furious over being told to stand down and let their Master suffer longer as the Tome slowly made her wither from lack of sustenance. They wouldn't be at this point if the Lanes weren't somehow _broken_ for months, dimensional storms only left the Lanes down for a month at most, normally a week or two instead of... this.

"You're getting too loud again." Once again Vita immediately deflated and looked like she'd been struck, something that barely evoked anything out of her before she actually answered the question. "Because the last several times you've come back empty-handed, and last night you were beaten badly to the point Shamal had to heal you non-stop the entire night for you to get back to normal."

First shame made its way onto Vita's face before she shook it off and replaced it with indignation, face reddening as she ground out a reply. "I found people though, they just ran the moment they caught wind of me and suppressed their mana, I didn't even have time for the barrier. And for last night how am I supposed to know a psycho mage-knight-whatever was able to stand after taking _several_ _Raketenhammers_ and regenerate an arm!"

The last part made her stop and look directly at Vita, causing the girl to flinch, drop the indignation and assume she'd done something to make her angry, given her expression and demeanor it was a reasonable assumption. Regardless, that wasn't what caused her to look over, it was the very last part of what she said, something she hadn't heard or seen in a long, _long_ time. "Regeneration doesn't exist in Humans, not by magic nor by genetics, not even Belka managed that. Whatever you saw wasn't regeneration, it was something else."

"Do you have any idea _what_ it is then?" Shamal was the one who spoke, surprising inquisitive and near-childlike about the matter, until she remembered that while she didn't fight, anything that could be considered support magic, in particular healing, brought out her joy and wonder, no matter the situation. Still, despite the enthusiasm being unexpected, she was ready to answer and did so once Shamal calmed down slightly.

"I'd have to see it for myself, though I have a suspicion I know what it is." She paused, puzzling if what she remembered lined up with what Vita had told her before, before another line of memories caused her to stop and shake her head. It was unlikely that line of Belka survived, she'd ended it personally and all that the kingdom had achieved was considered lost to time without a single record. Regardless of that she continued with a single instruction, addressing all three of them, despite Shamal's unwillingness to go and fight, in her normal voice. "Until we're all prepared to go out, we will not hunt for any more Linker Cores. Am I clear?"

Grudgingly Vita nodded her head with a strained look, while the other two simply nodded, Vita spitting out a single word that told everything she was feeling at the moment. " _Yes._ "

She paid it no mind, and simply continued on, not particularly worried or caring about Vita's attitude, it wasn't that big of a deal and Vita wouldn't go against her orders, she knew better and it was fully ingrained in her consciousness for the millennia past that disobeying was a bad decision. "Good, go get some sleep you three, the sun's up in four hours, and Hayate'll be up an hour after. Shamal will be with her tomorrow alone." Without further ado, she rose from her seat and made her way around all of them, weariness setting in for the first time since she'd been summoned as she made ready for the future.

"And what will you be doing Signum?" Shamal's question had her stop in her tracks for a moment, looking back at the youngest of them all before casting her gaze across the other two and seeing the same question written on their faces.

What would she be doing… The pendant at her neck was slowly removed from her neck, her Armor donned and Laevatein formed in hand. A look of sadness passed over her face for a moment before it settled back into her normal blank face, a sigh leaving her as she turned away and made for the door, her purpose stated just before she left the house.

"Preparing for a fight I have no wish to partake in."

* * *

Two days without any action at all quickly wore at her patience.

Harlaown-sama told her to wait, to watch and listen for what their opponents would do… which was a resounding nothing. Not a trace of them, not by sight or by a trail or spike of mana, which meant they were planning or preparing for the next encounter, she did the same.

She experimented with her spells while shifting her mana to fire, first taking the time to bask in the strange, comforting feeling the fire gave off, perhaps that was why Onee-sama was entranced by fire so much. So safe and warm… Uh, going back, the first actual 'experiment' she did was with her shooting spells, Göttlich Streuen Kugel as Razing Heart called the motes, a rather… extravagant name for a lackluster spell, and Welle-Schrägstrich as the wave was called.

The latter held near no promise, as nothing changed whatsoever from the original, aside from moving slower than it normally did and being formed of flames, a waste of a spell with that active. Her other spell though was a different matter, they apparently did a bit more damage, not that she could reliably tell considering she was targeting trees, and had… 'special' properties to them if she put too much mana into them. Namely they exploded if anything decided to run into them, didn't move and wouldn't disappear if she moved away from them.

While not that impressive, it did make that spell more of a threat than it previously was, and would let her make a few 'traps' for any opponent fighting her, especially if she had time to prepare.

Aside from that, all she did was figure out the right amount of mana for the melee explosion, mostly where she didn't get blown back away from her target. There wasn't anything she really _needed_ at the moment, which just left her to prepare for the coming battle, since no matter how much Harlaown-sama wanted there not to be a fight, it would be inevitable. That was how the world worked.

Left with nothing to do yet again, she found herself in the refuge of the forest surrounding the property, basking in the sounds of nature and the comfort of having her mana be flame. There was nothing to distract her, nothing to disturb her… at least there wasn't before some woman from Harlaown-sama's crew came blundering in making far more noise than he should have. Considering she was calling her, she should probably get off the branch she was on and see what they wanted… but she really didn't want to do anything.

Deciding against it, she lounged back onto the blackened branch and waited, if she wanted to speak to her about something, she'd find her eventually.

Even if the sounds were interrupted with the woman below ruining them, she didn't feel annoyed and just let the flame inside burn away the negative things in her, that was what Onee-sama did... or had done rather when she was little. Though… Onee-sama's was unintentional and went way too far, but the thought still stood.

Eventually after several long minutes, maybe a half-hour, the woman started looking up and eventually found her through the foliage, or what remained of it on the burnt tree. The woman had blue-hair, and she vaguely recalled seeing her from somewhere before, where exactly she couldn't remember but she did apparently know her. "Ms. Takamachi! The Admiral wants a word with you!" She felt a bit of confusion litter her, why wouldn't Harlaown-sama come and find her if she needed her for something?

Regardless of that question, she slipped her feet down off the branch, Macht manifesting in just her right hand, as she kept her sword always in her left, before she slammed her hand on the branch holding her, snapping the limb and sending both her and it tumbling down to the ground. Several more branches snapped and fell with her, up until she neared the ground where a platform waited for her and let her stand above the wreckage she'd made.

Honestly, she really didn't want to leave the forest, it was much nicer than home with all her guests around and making noise. Still, after walking back to the ground over the branches, she gave a light stretch without a sound before beginning the trek back to the houses… before immediately stopping as an 'idea' came up. Turning back to the woman, who stiffened slightly when she focused on her, she asked of her a rather simple request. "Would you be willing to tell Harlaown-sama that I'll meet her here, provided it isn't crucial?"

There were a few moments as the request registered before a hesitant yet curt nod was given, the woman passing by her without another word as she herself went over to another tree, platforms made to let her reach the tree branches and allow her to lay down again.

Her thoughts drifted again, going back to Suzuka-chan's quick stay at her home, and the subsequent call to Suzuka-chan's Kaa-sama two nights ago. The call had gone well enough, though she'd been picked up by one of the maids Suzuka's family had rather than her Kaa-sama, but that was fine since the maids normally would immediately go report to Suzuka-chan's Kaa-sama about anything. With that taken care of, and with Suzuka-chan tucked into her bed, she'd chosen an easy way out, rather than pick a new room.

She'd slept in the trees, a slightly uncomfortable experience, but not anything that truly bothered her and it soothed her with the nightlife's sounds. It was actually much better than sleeping in her bed, which was why she had found herself sleeping in the trees the night after.

She'd slept soundly despite the rather odd placement and position she made for herself, still waking up at her normal time and heading back for a new set of clothing, accidently waking up Suzuka-chan in the process. That had been… inconvenient.

* * *

 _Quietly she made her way through the hallway, stopping only once at her door and open it before slipping inside without a sound. Suzuka-chan was sleeping soundly on the bed, the covers barely ruffled as she somehow had barely moved from where she'd tucked her in, only a light breathing that she could barely hear being the single sound in the room._

 _Without a sound, she slipped out of her clothing, the white kimono and yukata that she always wore falling to the floor, followed by what little she had underneath and her new blade placed on the discarded cloth to avoid it making noise. Again, quickly and quietly she started to pull on new clothes, though she stopped at the yukata when she didn't hear Suzuka-chan's breathing anymore._

 _Turning slightly and looking over a bare shoulder saw Suzuka-chan up and staring at her, or rather her back, neither looking uncomfortable nor worried about the scars on her back, if anything she was passive, as if she was used to seeing such things. No words were exchanged, so instead she turned back, and slipped on her kimono, tying it off before leaning down, first picking up her sword before following to the bundle of clothing on the ground._

" _Does it hurt?" She turned and faced Suzuka-chan, a shake of her head being the only answer she gave, the scars were old, and the only reason they'd bother her again is if they were cut in the exact fashion they'd been made. Suzuka-chan's head tilted to the side, seemingly in thought before it righted itself, an idle musing slipping out before she realized it. "Could you endure the one hundred?"_

 _This time she tilted her head in confusion, wondering exactly_ what _'the one hundred' meant, before promptly discarding it, if Suzuka-chan wanted to share what that was she would do so. Her thoughts were placed to the side as she made for the door, stopping after two steps as Suzuka-chan called her, "Nanoha-chan?"_

 _She looked over at her friend again, seeing Suzuka-chan look down with her cheeks gaining color in them, a little murmur passing through the room as Suzuka-chan shyly asked a request of her. "I'm still tired… can you sleep with me?" There wasn't a response for a moment, making Suzuka-chan look down even more, at least until she went to door, set down the pile of clothing beside the doorframe, turned back and walked over to her dresser again, opening a random drawer and placing her blade inside._

 _Once all that was done, she turned back to Suzuka-chan and strode towards her, a hand placed on her head causing Suzuka-chan to jolt and look back up at her and see a gentle smile on her face. Nothing else was said, just her climbing into the bed and getting under the covers, and Suzuka-chan pressing herself into her._

 _It was nice._

* * *

By the time that small memory played she heard someone coming again, her assumption being it was either Harlaown-sama or the woman sent to get her, with the former proving true when the Admiral was seen through the leaves coming into the little grotto she'd claimed as hers. It was so much… 'worse' came to mind but that didn't fit really, 'different' worked better, than the rest of the forest, each tree bore signs that she'd been there practicing fire.

Trunks were burned black, some trees had leaves burnt to ash, there _were_ two piles of ash that were once trees, and some were a mixture of the first two. She'd spent a long while practicing on her own, something that showed clearly as she sat in one of the trees without leaves, propped against the blackened trunk and waiting for her guest to speak.

Eventually after taking in the surroundings after a few moments before looking back at her, barely noticing one of Harlaown-sama's eyes raised, and speaking up at her. "You certainly have a knack for fire… probably too much." After the muse Harlaown-sama shook her head, herself moving to sit on the branch as one would do a normal seat, feet hanging over the side without a single movement or sway to them.

"Anyway… We'll be going out tonight, enough time has passed that our 'friends' will be out again. Though this time we should expect two others to join in at some point." She only nodded from her position on the branch her smile dimming to almost non-existent as she was reminded of the _Knight_. She was fine, she was fine for the moment at least, but the mere mention was enough to make her less than pleasant, something that Harlaown-sama immediately noticed but didn't comment on.

For a while there was just silence, her still sitting in her black tree, and Harlaown-sama still standing on the ground, teacup absent for the moment with hands behind her back, at least until Harlaown-sama decided to change topics. "I'm curious, you mind showing me a few of the things you used out here?" A thought occupied her for a moment, before she nodded her head and jumped down to the ground, Ausdauer filling her up so that she could land without anything to slow her.

Quickly slotting in Razing Heart, a yawn sounding in her head as she did, presumably due to Razing Heart just waking up from one of her naps, she sent mana down the blade and watched and felt the flame take shape along it. Then came the little motes of flame drifting off, some noticeably larger than the rest, before swaying around her and coming to a stop.

Little dancing flames, hanging in the air, staying still before going off on their own and dancing, aside from the large ones. They weren't anything to be 'proud' of really, not the little ones full of life and warmth anyway, the bigger ones, made of rage and burning were the ones that she was more 'proud' of, they'd reduced trees to ash on their own after all.

Harlaown-sama looked over the flames, an eye raised again before she shook her head and sighed, "Explains the leaves and burned bark, doesn't explain the piles of ash." Her smile came back, and turned a bit impish, something that made her guest confused and a bit worried before she backed away, taking most of the little motes with her and extinguishing all but one of the bigger pink flames. The moment she was at a safe distance, her 'impish' smile faded to her normal smile, her blade stabbed into the ground before she clasped her hands together and gave a giggle.

"Go ahead and touch that one, Harlaown-sama."

Needless to say, Harlaown-sama wisely decided not to trust her and turned away, a light smile given before she quickly followed after Harlaown-sama, she probably still needed her for something after all.

* * *

 _Another dream, another memory._

 _This time found her again amidst the tribal area near the central firepit, this time though she was older, a year or two older now. Still she had no name to call her own, but today would be different._

 _She wasn't doing anything at the moment, just staring up into the sky and watching the cloudless sky and hoping to see something new, boredom had set in quickly after the novelty of being outside the first time, and she was far too young now to even think of going out on a hunt. So, here she was, stuck in her thoughts while gazing up at the sky, hoping_ something _came to keep her occupied, because no one would want to talk to the Albino._

 _She sat there for literal months, with the only times she wasn't there being during the night when there was no literal reason to be out and about, even the beasts they hunted refused to do anything during the night._

 _Then she was lucky for once in her brief life, as a hunting party came back, 'Sister's' party. She watched them joke, laugh and basically make merry as they brought their prizes home, several Turalen, creatures that had four legs, claws on their feet, narrow eyes, metallic skin and a long thin tail, with the eldest of their kind capable of lighting themselves on fire. They were tough creatures to kill, told easily by the fact that of the seventeen in 'Sister's' party, only eight returned alive covered in wounds._

 _There were reasons they were typically avoided unless necessary, they could fight Anzen young in their packs and come out on top after all._

 _She was curious though of the one leading the party though, a girl a few years older than her with a massive black axe on her back, had it been another kind of human, they wouldn't have been able to hold it, let alone use it. 'Sister' had the most common hair color of Calnarog, a pitch black that was nearly the color of the night, and while it was long, it was nowhere near groomed or kept 'nice and pretty', it was a waste of effort after all. And she wore what all of them did, clothing made of the hide of the things they killed, crudely fashioned in a mockery of the clothing of the more 'civilized' worlds_

 _As if they could call themselves civilized as they butchered one another, while they'd been on good terms with themselves since they had made the first tribes._

 _Besides that… the older girl didn't have anything else to her, she was pale despite always being in the sun, as was normal for their people due to the long nights and lack of a blazing sun. There was nothing to denote her as the chief's daughter, nor would there have been for the chief himself._

 _Curious about her, as she always had been, and finally having grown bored enough to try something new, she got up from the firepit and walked towards the hunting party, one of them noticing and immediately topping in his revelry, with the others noticing and following suit. She was still too young to understand why no one talked to her, even now she didn't understand why they had, but she kept going until she was in front of the girl._

 _Then she pointed at the girl and said the word that came up when she took in her yellow eyes rimmed in orange. "Pretty."_

 _There was a moment of silence before a smile stretched across 'Sister's' face, a bright laugh erupting from her and frightening herself back then, before the peals of laughter subsided and she calmly walked forward, one hand still clutching a Turalen's tail while the other stretched out and rubbed her head. "Come on Albino, I'll share my spoils with you for that." Happily she nodded quickly, making another laugh come from the girl as she waved her free hand and apparently dismissed her fellow hunters to go eat, before moving off to the center firepit._

 _She followed after 'Sister', looking at the Turalen in curiosity for a bit before skipping ahead to sit down first, a light chuckle from behind her making her look back and see the girl smiling at her before sitting down herself. The axe was laid at the girl's side, her head tilting as she tried to understand what it was back then, another chuckle sounded out as she looked back at 'Sister'._

 _A smaller axe, something the size of her arm, was brought out and was taken to the feline's hide, making a screech as the rock-like head ground against the metal. "Come on you stupid thing, let us have our meal already." It took a lot longer than the girl was expecting, though far faster than anyone else would guess, the sun having only moved to straight up in the sky instead of just a bit off._

 _The metal hide was discarded to the side, probably to make something from it later, clothes, weapons, shelter, something else, with the meat laid bare for them for the meal to come. The little axe came out again and chopped into the meat, a bit of blood squirting out as the girl hacked away at the meat, the process_ much _faster than taking off the hide, and soon there was fresh food for the both of them._

 _A canteen was brought out, metal as most things were made from here, and Sahar drank from it, tipping it back enough for a trickle to go out before pulling it back down and handing it to her. "I'd prefer you only drink a little, the river's a long walk away, and I'm not chancing it flowing through my hunting ground."_

 _She nodded in response, taking the canteen after finishing her portion of the meat and having a small sip, before dutifully giving it back, an appreciated nod being given to her before they went back to eating. It was silent, not the kind that she was used to then, but a nice comfortable silence where boredom never arrived. Eventually, the silence broke a few times, a few people wandering by talking with one another giving them strange looks, some other children playing around happily, little things she'd long since ignored, and then finally the older girl said something._

" _I'm Sahar, got a name Albino?" She shook her head in response, something that made 'Sister' concentrate for a moment before shrugging helplessly, seemingly not caring too much about the answer. "Well then, guess you're going to have to come up with one on your own. Not like you're going to get one from a parent after all."_

 _A name… she got to come up with a name for herself? "Ah, take your time, finish the meal first kiddo, never know when the next one'll be around, especially when you go out hunting." Again she nodded before continuing to eat… it wasn't that she didn't know how to talk that made her just nod, mostly it was just because she didn't know what to say beyond yes, and saying yes was more energy than just nodding._

 _They continued to eat in comfortable silence, eventually eating their small fill and leaving the corpse and rest of the meat strung up on a metal wire for some other tribesmen, walking out to the perimeter of the camp. They weren't the biggest tribe on Calnarog, but they were one of the bigger and better ones, around ten thousand or so individuals give or take a thousand…_

 _They hadn't had a census, or whatever the 'civilized' folk called it, at all since they had formed the tribes, far too hard with the nature of Calnarog and the fact that each tribe was normally at least a hundred kilometers away at the least. The rivers were the reason for that, they had to follow the rivers to survive or else they were destined to die of thirst, quite a few tribes had been lost because of that._

 _Anyway she was digressing, she had a name to think of, or rather her younger self did, so she thought and thought, and thought until her head ached as she walked behind 'Sister', busy herself looking over the plains in the distance and inspecting the tents on the edge. She… she didn't want a normal name, it only made sense for someone born so different to have a vastly different name. So she wouldn't use Kyrtanha to name herself, she'd use something else._

 _And then she thought of it, and she pulled on 'Sister's' one sleeve, the older girl tilting her head over her shoulder in confusion, a moment spent making sure Sahar was listening before she spoke a single word. "Lindy." The confusion remained for a while before realization dawned on Sahar and she turned around, gave a smile and patted her on the head again, in response she gave a light laugh and smile before hugging the older girl._

 _The name didn't mean anything, not like the normal names they had in Kyrtanha… well that wasn't all true, it had a meaning to her, just not one that could be put into words. With her name found and said, and having disengaged from the hug, she then asked a question that she wanted to know the answer to considering she would likely be doing it whenever she was a bit older. "When will I learn how to go and hunt?"_

" _Eh, might as well get you started on learning how to now. The old man would probably try to get you to do it anyway under him or me to begin with, may as well start early and impress him." She nodded twice with a smile plastered on her face, something that got Sahar ruffling her head in amusement before continuing. "Go find something to hit things with, and meet me outside the camp. Prepare to get your ass handed to you Lin-dy~"_

 _She was too ecstatic to do any more than nod quickly, gaining a smile and chuckles from 'Sister' before she wandered off, doing whatever it was that needed her attention. Herself, she went in search of -something that fit the description Sahar had given her, rather hard since everyone made their own apparently and they got buried with them… provided the body was still around._

 _She had a name!_

 _She was Lindy, the Albino of her tribe, and she was an orphan. And she was happy._

* * *

The night came far quicker than it should, at least it seemed too despite her looking forward to it, strange really.

Their preparations had been simple, collect Chrono-san from his working and move into the city, taking only a moment to tell the crew members to get ready for something and be prepared before they went off into the city again. The night was beginning to dawn as they left, few people walking the streets as they passed by and waited for what was likely inevitable.

It was, it just took an hour of movement, followed by a tiny barrier around them courtesy of Chrono-san and a few minutes of climbing stairs. The barrier from before was dropped, smashing apart Chrono's before passing past, it was strange to watch the noise and life below simply cease.

Her smile had slowly and steadily been dropping the longer they had been out, the people on the streets before noticing and immediately moving away from them as quickly as they could, and by the time the barrier formed around them, her face was set into a blank look. Neither Chrono-san nor Harlaown-sama reacted at all to that, not that they were even paying her any mind, Chrono-san was busy going over 'his' arm, checking it for the twelfth time since they got up here, while Harlaown-sama was busying herself looking for their… ' _guests_ '.

Okaa-sama's blade was at her side, it would taste blood again, one more time before being put with her grave.

Chrono-san stopped his 'messing' with 'his' arm when he felt the barrier pass over, looking up and drawing out his device in its standby form, a card in the grey with a blue jewel in the center. Harlaown-sama did the same with a smile, and shortly after one another activated their Devices and donned their proper Jackets. Then they waited for their opponents to arrive.

They waited maybe another minute and the Knight arrived, a scowl in place and hand trembling in 'something'. She didn't care what she felt though, she needed to _murder_ her for what she did. No one noticed her hostility, wrapped up in seeming-apathy as it was, and Lindy immediately spoke with a sad sigh. "You realize this means we have to fight, yes."

While the words would have normally been a question, Lindy's tone and sadness more of a statement, one which the Knight curtly gave a nod to, causing Lindy again to sight before point her warhammer at the smaller girl. "Have anything to say before we start this Vita? Already meet your Master two days ago and saw the condition… it's worse than last time." For a long while 'Vita' was silent, posture unchanging before she shook her head.

"… Fuck it." In that time between the answer and question she'd wondered exactly _who_ the 'Master' of the Knight was, while the person was apparently someone Lindy had met on their trip, she didn't recall meeting anyone. "We wouldn't be here if the lanes were shattered like Belka. Signum doesn't want to fight, which means Shamal doesn't and I _really_ hate that they're being forced into this. Master doesn't even realize we're doing this, which makes it even worse. And on top of that, _I_ don't want to make her worried if one of us dies."

If she were normal, and still not _furious_ about the last time, she would have felt pity for the girl, instead she settled for standing up, clothing ruffling around her as she did. 'Vita' took a moment to think, eyes closed and a breath let out before she looked back with eyes full of steel, even as her body trembled from what she was doing. "But… For her sake, I'll… no, _we'll_ fight you. Regardless of the past."

Lindy seemed upset by the answer, but didn't do anything aside from moving her Device back to her side, gently stamping it into the ground, and breathing out, expecting the answer and still not ready for it to be said likely. Looking down, Lindy placed her free hand on her face, covering it from the world before looking up, hand still on her face as she whispered soft enough that she barely heard. "That dimensional tremor is still having ripples even three-quarters of a year later."

Shaking her head, Lindy took another moment to clear her thoughts before addressing their opponent, sadness tainting the words and making the girl's hand tremble slightly faster than it had been. "I see…" Another moment of silence passed before the Admiral gave a soft smile, something the Knight wasn't expecting in the slightest as she said one last thing to her. "Let's hope then that the lanes fix themselves soon, for your Master's sake."

Another presence made itself known shortly after Lindy was speaking, the Wolf-man from the last time that was scared by Lindy. He dropped out of the sky behind them, Chrono immediately whirling about to face the man as he stood from his crouch, she only gave a glance backwards before turning back to the foe she wanted to _murder_ and _tear apart_.

The Wolf-man said nothing, the Knight said nothing more, the Enforcer said nothing, the Admiral said nothing more, she said nothing.

She waited for Lindy's signal to start, so simple to say and yet so frustratingly difficult to wait for. Then without a single emotion, she spoke the words that would seal someone's fate, and crushed any _hope_ of a peaceful solution.

"Go wild Nanoha-chan."

She didn't have a weapon out, but that provided her with less focus than Chrono and Lindy, of the three people fighting them, their opponents would look predominantly at the ones brandishing weaponry, they were the ones who looked and appeared more dangerous than herself. With that said, given the last time she expected 'Vita' to be prepared to receive her without a weapon. For the first time Iaijutsu would be of use to her.

Her augments activated themselves without a word, her hand moving to hover near Okaa-sama's sword, but refusing to touch it, bracing herself for the detonation, and slipping her blade into her hand from her sleeve. She detonated the concrete beneath her, startling two people before they quickly brought themselves together as she reached halfway between the roof of the skyscraper and the Knight, she tuned out what happened behind her, it was important and it would be taken care of by Lindy and Chrono.

The Knight cast a shield in front of her, she let the fire consume her mana and start the swing, metal slid into place, and halfway through her attack the Knight realized what was coming and braced herself. It didn't do much good when fire lit the blade and a Sprengenklinge went off.

She didn't notice the tiny black embers amidst the pink flames.

* * *

She barely paid attention to Nanoha-chan beyond the first explosion, she really regretted that it came to this, but sometimes she had to do things she didn't want to, leaving home, leaving Chrono, leaving Sahar… Everything came down to she wanted to do something, and the world said, 'FUCK YOU!' straight to her face.

That'd been her life from the moment 'Sister' had left to join the Bureau.

Regardless, she did everything due to a single important yet simple promise passed from her father-in-law to her, she would fight for a place where she wasn't needed anymore, where her kind wasn't needed. And she'd make it a reality even if it cost her everything but her Chrono.

This wasn't any different… well it was but she could pretend it was something it wasn't, it was not as hard as other people tried to make it out. Anyway, with Nanoha-chan taking care of Vita, that left her and Chrono to deal with Zafira, considering how he normally fought, she didn't want Chrono anywhere near him, even if that arm of his could _maybe_ handle the hit. While everything he'd made worked, and worked near _perfectly_ beyond anything else, there were… hiccups that always happened.

Those hiccups normally took a year to address, even if he focused on them and tested them, he _hadn't_ tested his arm to go against someone, only that it worked as an arm.

She didn't waste any more time talking, talking was long past and Zafira only talked when he had something to say, never in reaction, so that left her charging her old friend. It hurt to do that, but she was used to that pain… she was used to that pain…

Her hammer was swung without her paying attention to it, Zafira taking flight to avoid it only to be pestered with an unceasing volley from Chrono's Stinger Ray. The projectiles barely did anything, they were set to be in non-lethal and barely held any power, but Zafira either didn't know or care and brought up his arms to shield his more vulnerable areas. A stupid thing when you block your line of sight of an Ace out to hurt you.

Wordlessly, a Stinger Blade formed at her side and fired, the man dropping out of the sky to avoid it and hurtling to the ground, Stinger Ray's unceasing volley failing to keep up until Chrono stopped firing the spell. She dropped after Zafira, unconcerned as a Stinger Snipe darted past her and slammed straight into a shield before it had a chance to change directions, she took care of it with a single swing and brought her own shield up as her old friend retaliated. Hers held, barely, dissipating to allow her hammer to swing through and catch the 'Familiar' in the arm, a grunt being the only response as he countered.

His fist moved quickly in a heavy jab, she hung herself in the air at a dead stop and watch the blow miss as Zafira expected her to keep with him, surprise barely becoming noticeable for half a second before he was back to seriousness. He had forgotten what it was like to fight Aces, he was assuming she was a Knight or an actual warrior, she didn't feel any sympathy for him.

Aces didn't fight like that, they did what was natural for them and what also defied common tactics. It had worked that way since the Bureau was formed, and it work even after the Bureau fell apart.

Shoot Barrets formed around Bob as she pointed him down at her old friend, a second passing before they shot at him at normal speed, the man darting out of the way as they hit the pavement before looping up and around at her. Almost immediately afterwards he ducked again, four Stinger Snipes and a quick volley of Stinger Ray forcing him to abandon his charge and return to dodging the homing projectiles. Two on one wasn't fair, but that was life.

She hefted Bob back and almost started at the sound of another explosion… Nanoha-chan was still pissed at Vita it seemed, as long as it didn't escalate too quickly, they'd be fine though. Signum and Shamal were creeping ever closer to the battle, and Signum was hard enough to fight without the other three around to support her, especially without even numbers.

They maybe had a minute left, probably less before Signum was here-

A hiss of steam interrupted her thoughts, Chrono taking the time to vent his Device while Zafira was distracted, something she gave a proud nod to, not that he would appreciate or notice it. Making ready to charge again as Zafira got rid of the projectiles with a single well-timed shield, lightly breathing in and out after the excursion, she immediately stopped when what she had been dreading came.

She felt it, the unmistakable mana signature slowly making its way towards them, the one person that even her father-in-law was cautious to face and had barely bested into a stand-still. Understandably she immediately sought to regroup, something Chrono realized and did without asking, a thing she was happy about… her host however was a different matter. One that needed to be addressed _now_.

"Nanoha! Pull back _Now_!"

* * *

She wasn't done, she hadn't _murdered_ the Knight.

Still she was bound to respond and give her assent to her clients, regardless of her personal feeling. Unfortunately, she was in the middle of a charge, and there was little she could do about it considering her 'flight' was not as amazing as a true flight spell. It wasn't even a few seconds later before Lindy spoke again, just as she was about hit 'Vita'.

"Well… this complicates things." She heard Lindy speak over the flame crackling at her side as she fell towards the younger Knight, a shield and the hammer brought up to block the blow. Even if she had wanted to stop, she had no ability to do so, alongside her body would continue even if she did, so her blade connected with the shield. A groan slowly ground out, before an explosion rocked both of them, shattering the shield and sending the younger Knight flying into a building.

"Nanoha-chan! You want to fight someone new?" She didn't say anything, just looking down at Lindy before moving her gaze to the two newest participants. Both were people she'd seen before, she couldn't remember where exactly, but she knew she'd seen them before. One had blonde hair and was dressed in cloth robes of all manner of green, and some hat in similar colors, from the distance she was at it all blurred together into a mass of color rather than specific details.

The other had hair of pink, and unlike the other three wore actual armor, silver armor tinged in white and pink made of a seemingly thin breastplate, greaves and gauntlets, all with a crest of gold marking them, once again she couldn't tell the specifics, only the color and general shape. While the other woman apparently held no form of weapon, the Knight held a sword in her hand, long, straight and apparently held both backwards and by just above the guard.

She didn't want to fight these new people, but Lindy's orders superseded her desires, and so she complied.

She let herself drop from the sky, landing in a crouch atop the street with an impact that should have jarred her body completely, her blade held behind her with the tip just scraping the ground, quickly straightening to her height and walking towards the new Knight, her blade's tip scraping along the asphalt and carving a furrow in it. The Knight who was to be her opponent strode forward as well, face set in a similar expression to her own.

"I take it you can handle Zafira, Chrono-kun?" She barely heard the affirmative Chrono gave, focused solely on watching the woman for any sudden moves, Lindy continuing after the confirmation. "Alright, I'll be after Vita then. And Nanoha? She looked over when she was addressed, seeing Lindy with an uncharacteristic serious look on her face, eyes half-lidded and near-blank, two more words telling her the last order.

"Don't die."


	18. Ascent V

_Amount of Hugs needed:_ _14378_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 7092_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

The first thing that happened, before anything else, was Razing Heart whispering in her head, diminishing her rage slightly.

" _My Seraph… your anger will get you killed against the Traitor. Let it simmer, for the Traitor will use it against you if it consumes you. Just let everything go for now, I can handle it if you want…"_

She took a moment to think, still walking forward towards the 'Traitor' as Razing Heart named her, nothing sounding around her as both sides watched her and the New Knight walk forward. Did she want to lose her anger, the rage that kept her going for blow after blow when she last faced 'Vita'… no, she didn't. With that said however…

Razing Heart never was wrong, unhelpful, cryptic and prone to recalling the past, never wrong though. If she said the anger would get her killed, she would believe that, and let Razing Heart take it… or whatever she planned on doing, so long as she was still the one to fight, all would be good. A little thought conveyed that with only a single word, ' _Go._ ', and then everything muted itself.

The anger inside her destroyed itself until all that was left was a hollow nothingness, gnawing away as whispers tried to steer her back, only to immediately whimper and die as Razing Heart ruthlessly crushed them. _"Now then… shall we began a dance with the Knight crafted before my time, my Seraph?"_

She didn't give a response… it felt like she couldn't anymore, nothing besides continuing forward, step by step by step with a blade grating against the ground, she would have to remember to tell her thank you for this. For now though, she would settle on simply doing a-s Lindy had asked, and fight this 'Traitor' with all she had, though words came unbidden, muttered under her breath.

"Grant me wings and power, so that my duty may be done." A step, then another before she stopped in time with the 'Traitor', a blank look all that was exchanged between them, "Sing for the end of the World." She had no idea what the words meant, though they were familiar and felt like they'd been spoken countless times before.

"Darkness amidst the deep you slumber within… Light bathing the sky you dance upon." Her body felt light, her mind free, and nothing was bothering her… was this how it had felt to be the Seraph the last time? "Unfurl your ash-laden wings and take to flight to war again." The Traitor heard those lines, steadily rising in volume, the only reaction given being her eyes narrowed slightly and her sword rising slowly into a guard, she knew the words spoken.

One last part… one last part before it would start, her voice was still quiet, only enough for her and the Traitor to hear, her foe shifting slightly in response, the free hand reaching out and gripping the handle in preparation. "Guide this blade to blood, wielder of Magic and Steel… Burn it all away… - -" There was… something wrong with the very last part, she could feel that she _should_ know the words, and yet she couldn't hear or understand them.

It didn't matter though, it didn't matter, because Razing Heart wouldn't be annoyed with her, she would know she couldn't hear whatever it was that she had said. She would forgive her, for she was not truly Nanoha, nor the Seraph.

She was just a simple Monster of Monsters.

No words were spoken again, silence engulfed them even as a battle began to rage above, they were focused on one another, for she felt something different in the gaze of the Traitor. She felt what her ancestor felt, what Sasaki Kojirō, the man who cut the swallow in flight, felt as he looked at his Hero of Heroes, Musashi Miyamoto.

The madness of fighting until there was nothing left from one side or the other, the feeling of wanting to know if the Hero could kill the Monster, or if the Monster would slaughter the Hero. She welcomed it, for even in the shell of nothingness that she was, she felt her instincts stir and her blood laugh, for Heroes and Monsters would always fight for as long as the other existed. So similar they were, and yet so vastly different.

She wanted this to last, it was so very, _very_ difficult to find Heroes in this age. Heroes had been outlived, and the Monsters withered away, hoping one day they'd see their old foes again. For a Monster is nothing without a Hero, and a Hero nothing without a Monster, if one was gone, then the other was simply... a Killer without purpose or direction.

The battle started with a single swing.

She crossed the distance between her and the Traitor in a single stride, her blade whistling through the air to crash and skid against the angled swo- no scabbard. Her blade was sent off in a wide arc away from the woman, the bladed scabbard darting in a quick slash at her chest, a hand let go of the long handle and caught the blade before it managed to get halfway.

Blood dripped to the ground, neither hand nor blade moved an inch, staying completely still as the odachi finished its arc and still. The longer sword flipped and reversed direction, the hand continuing to grip the scabbard until it was yanked from her grasp and positioned to block the incoming blade. Fire crackled with noise as the two metal weapons smashed into each other, her blade sliding up the scabbard before reversing directions again and locking both of their blades in place.

Everything happened in the span of three seconds.

Neither of their faces showed anything, neither of their eyes showed anything. They were the same, and yet different, a Monster of Monsters and Hero of Heroes. It was nice, to know Heroes still existed, even if this one had fallen.

The deadlock came to an end when the Traitor put her entire weight behind the sheathe and barged into her guard, the sword careening to the side even with her tight grip, though still held in hand. 'Traitor' reversed her grip on the sheath and handle, now holding it 'correctly' as she stabbed forward with a speed comparable to Sonnenlicht-Tanz, the blade missing as she side-stepped a second before it would have impaled her.

Her sword came around again in a wide arc, one set of locks keeping it at its full length coming undone to shorten the blade and make it faster. Even still with that, the Traitor stepped a single step back to avoid it, twirling her scabbard back to its original position, her newly freed hand catching the returning sword in the gauntlet and holding firm despite the fire and strength behind it. She returned the favor and caught the scabbard again as it tried to slash her.

Another deadlock, this time with a single piece of conversation between the two of them, courtesy of the Traitor. "Another Seraph. I thought I ended the last of your kind two millennia ago." She pushed rather than answer, the Knight releasing her sword and taking three steps back before stabbing forward, the Traitor doing as she herself had done barely a dozen seconds ago and sidestepping at the last moment.

Her blade twisted in her grasp and shook as the woman brought her own weapon to bare again, slamming into her with a force similar to what Lindy normally used and sending her skidding back. Immediately she detonated the ground and flew at the Traitor, the woman easily side-stepping her and dipping her head under the slash, her body scraping along the ground while her hand bled freely as the asphalt cut up her hand. It didn't hurt, barely anything hurt anymore.

She didn't get up, just shifting herself around to get her blade back into position, Razing Heart then began speaking, hate and venom dripping off every word directed at their opponent… something that _should_ have concerned her. _"You_ did _end her kind. You didn't end me,_ _ **Traitor**_ _."_ There wasn't a response again, the conversation over after a single response as she detonated the ground again and charged, the Knight not even bothering to react as she blocked her sword again.

She didn't hear much of the noise they were making, or even of the fights happening alongside their duel, but that didn't matter too much, so long as the duel went on without anything to bother them, she was fine.

A slash from the traitor clipped her right shoulder, ignored in favor of nearly returning the blow and damage, instead only managing to scar the armor with a scrape before she was punched away with a quick jab of the woman's free hand. Crashing back-first into the side of a building, she immediately detonated a platform under her and rocketed into another a few meters up just as the Traitor stabbed through where she just vacated.

Another detonation, another scrape along the woman's armor as she stepped out of the way with a quickness that was unnatural, her blade burrowing itself into the ground halfway up its length as she hit the ground with a crack. Almost immediately following that she pushed off the handle of her blade, avoiding having her hand cut off by the blading sheathe slashing above the sword. She didn't even make a meter above where she'd been, and slowly changed directions back to the ground, twisting to avoid the next swipe of the blade before hitting the ground on her shoulder.

Darting around a stab from the Knight, then ducking under a slash behind the woman, she gripped her sword by the handle and ripped it out of the ground into the path of another swipe, a clang resounding as they both were sent back a few meters. She circled back onto the street, taking care to keep distance from the Traitor-Knight in the event of a sudden attack.

Thankfully for her, she was able to catch a short breath as the woman decided to put her sheathed sword into a more relaxed grip at her side, looking over at her before speaking for the second time this night. "Your sword. It is impractical." Were she just Nanoha, she would have narrowed her eyes and been indignant about the casual 'insult' the woman gave, instead she leveled her sword at the woman still standing on the sidewalk and replied.

"It is my monohoshizao. It is practical so long as it is mine."

Perhaps if it was a different person should would have gotten a more… lively response, instead she got zero actions at all and a single word spoken at her. "Fair."

In the wake of that one word she found herself doing something… different than normal. Instinct guided her not to charge again, but to get into a stance, the _only_ stance taught to her by Okaa-sama when she was still alive. The stance had no purpose back then, Okaa-sama had just taught her it, sword at her side pointed forward, blade parallel to the ground, roughly at the height of her chest.

It had always felt… _natural_ to do it when she was younger, it still felt that way now.

She stayed in that stance, the Knight narrowing her eyes and placing her left hand on the handle again for the first time since the beginning, obviously thinking something was up. Well, that was… convenient for her, she'd expect something different than what she would receive. Eventually after several moments the Traitor dashed forward, only to seemingly slow down after only two steps forward, she let her body do what instinct called for.

She swung, twisting the blade around and curving the blade down, before pulling it straight up, by that point the woman had reacted and placed her sheathe in the way. Halfway through the swing, the Traitor's eyes widened slightly and instead of facing the strike she threw herself to the side, she didn't understand why, the Traitor had been content to take everything before this, so what was different?

She followed the slash with another, the world slowing again as the Knight drew her sword for the first time, and positioned herself to block the slash… and something from her left. Her sword connected with the sheathe, and at the same time, _something_ crashed straight into the woman's sword, the combined force sending her back a few steps.

Another swing continuing from the last resulted in the same result, with only two steps back taken, a third diagonal slash being dodged and again _something_ sparking along the other sword's length before being directed into the ground and carving a furrow through it, it was strange. Like with the words on the incantation, she felt she should know _what she was doing_ … and yet again she knew absolutely nothing about it, only that it was instinctive and apparently she couldn't even see what she was doing.

Not all bad, but she'd need to figure out what that was later, and see if she could recreate it… maybe, no best to wait and think of it later.

Another two times she swung, and was rewarded with nothing as the woman deflected both strikes occurring at the same time, with a slash from both marring the ground with a gash, before a third went off she stepped forward into her guard, brought the sheathe up and pushed forward. Her blade wouldn't make it in time to stop the blow, nor could she catch it, so instead she did the 'sensible' option, and positioned her right arm in the way and let her augment flood her body.

The strike was blunted for whatever reason, though it still bit into her arm and drew blood before she was pushed back, skidding along the ground and scraping the soles of her feet, until she came to a stop a few meters away. Both of them took a moment to stare at the other before settling themselves again in preparation of the next part, her just letting her instincts back into control of her body, while the Knight got into what could vaguely be called a stance.

"… Is that all you have to offer, young one?" The Traitor's voice _may_ have been sad or disappointed if one were actually looking for it, instead all she heard was blankness more suited for the Seraph. All she did to respond was bring up her sword again as her body felt natural, before she felt something prick at her chest.

She had moved without realizing it, avoiding a stab from the Knight's sword that had managed to cross the several meters in barely a second, only managing to cut her instead of burying itself in her skin. Then came the sheathe, lashing across her chest and spilling blood before she ducked away, only to immediately find herself stuck in an onslaught of blades.

Two cuts, slashing her chest from neck to waist in tandem, the retaliation sweeping up easily side-stepped and countered with a biting lunge into her left shoulder with the sword. Seven cuts and a single miss, one marring her face, another drinking from her chest, a light slice of her neck, and two more slashes to her chest before the Knight moved behind her quicker than she could react and scored twin furrows into her back.

She tried to keep up, but the Traitor… the Traitor was worthy of being a Hero of Heroes, no matter how far she had fallen.

Sword and sheathe blurred, and she lost count of how many times she'd been cut after the twenty-seventh time, she had tried to parry several of the blows, but the Traitor easily forced the parry into her favor and sent the odachi careening away each time. Eventually the onslaught of blades came to an end, a cut across her face narrowly missing her eye, a slash along the length of her right arm, a gash through her chest. All of those were minor compared to the ending strike, both blades burrowing themselves in her chest, one puncturing into a lung, the other barely missing the second lung and heart.

Both weapons were wrenched out, her body taking a single involuntary step back as the Knight twirled her sheathe around and placed the sword back inside it, turning around as she began to fall backwards as her body lost itself.

…

…

A bare foot braced against the concrete, skin breaking as she brought herself back to awareness and took charge of her body again. "… Are you done, _Traitor_?" She felt 'Satisfaction' from Razing Heart at those words, her foe slowly turning back around to look at her, before immediately jumping back as she tried to gut her.

Neither of them had any honor. Such things were wasted on Monsters and Heroes, honor was only worth it to keep the rest of the faceless masses out of duels, nothing else.

Blood… Blood flowed freely down her body, dripping to the ground several drops at a time until a puddle started to take shape, malformed and shallow. The Traitor apparently found it lightly unnerving that she didn't remake her Jacket and let it simply hang tattered around her, taking a step back and raising her sheathe in a defensive posture, ready for whatever was to come.

"Where is the pain? Where is it? I want to feel it again…" Eyes narrowed in suspicion from only a few meters away as she whispered that, but that didn't matter… she missed the pain, it was a friend to her, one who told her to keep getting up and trying harder.

Eventually she repositioned herself, blade at her side at her default ready position instead of whatever that instinctive stance had been, her opponent saying nothing until she took an unsteady step forward. "… I will admit, I expected you to die from that."

If she were capable of, she felt she would let a short-lived laughter out before she responded, that or a normal, carefree laughter, instead she just stared back at the woman, and gave an answer without a shred of emotion, just like the Traitor did. "If I do not feel pain, why should I die?" Silence met her answer, the Knight not saying anything for a time until finally responding.

"I see." A smile, soft and gentle that was at odds with the otherwise blank face and posture the woman carried appeared on her face, the smile staying as she slowly shook her head as her eyes shifted slightly to something more alive. "Perhaps… no, you are worthy of the legacy, even a fallen Knight can see that." The life left the Knight shortly after that was done, almost all of it dead as she spoke what seemed to be parting words. "I do not deserve to know your name, and you will not give it to me. But, it will be an… honor to fight you again, young one. Perhaps you'll show something as impressive then as you did just now."

After she finished, the Traitor left her stance into a neutral posture, taking a step back before turning around and looking up into the sky. "Vita, Zafira, Shamal. We're leaving." She barely raised her voice, and yet everybody seemingly heard her, the three foes she, Lindy and Chrono faced all acquiescing to the order, even if 'Vita' looked to be extremely 'displeased' with being told to retreat, regardless of the fact she looked to have been a punching bag.

The woman walked away in the same, near leisurely stride she'd arrived in, the other three preferring to dart away in flight instead. Silence was all that played its song as she disappeared further into the city, leaving just the three of them alone, alongside a confusion of _why_ the Traitor decided to just up and leave.

Shortly after the woman disappeared, her guests dropped to the ground around her while Razing Heart undid… whatever she'd actually done, letting her feel a quickly doused anger before she went back to normal. Shaking her head slowly, she turned her attention to Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san, seeing the former with barely any out of place feature, and a sad smile in place… the latter looked like he had gone through hell and was barely standing, not that difficult to understand though.

She didn't care about that though, proceeding to plant her sword into the ground, sit down, left leg propped up and letting her arm rest on it, and dip her head and let sleep take her… she was tired.

* * *

It'd been an… interesting fight.

Oh, by no means was it too hard or easy, but it had been… stranger than the ones she was used to. Vita had been trying to get through her shields with a fervor she hadn't ever seen from the Knight, eventually getting through only for her own hammer to batter the youngest-looking Knight away. Zafira on the other hand had been aided by Shamal in an attempt to get through Chrono… for the first time one of his little projects actually worked and did its job perfectly.

She'd only seen little snippets of what had happened, mostly because of Vita constantly throwing herself back at her, but what she had seen was impressive considering how… bad he was in melee. His prosthetic was capable of holding Zafira in place as well as matching punches with the Knight, yet he himself wasn't able to match the man and always kept distance, firing spell after spell at him until the man faltered. Of course, that was where Shamal stepped in, supporting Zafira until he was ready again.

In the end, they would have lost, were it not for Signum calling a withdraw without warning or reason.

Chrono would have been worn down until he was defeated by the combination of unrelenting offense of fists and mana-enhanced blows and unending support of healing, teleporting and shields, and then move on to her, with Vita taking advantage of the allies. Signum's fight with Nanoha was _always_ , no matter what circumstances happened, going to end in Signum's favor, that was the sheer skill Signum held.

Letting out a sigh and stretching out a kink that had developed somehow during the fight, immediately moving over to Chrono and healing most of the bruises he had accumulated when she finished. "Well, that went as best it could have been. Nanoha's alive, you're conscious and I'm not dead." Chrono tried to look back at her, only to wince as one of the numerous bruises complained about the action, immediately turning back to looking forward while she continued healing, eventually stating what he wanted to reply.

"… Only you would say this was the _best_ outcome. The best would have been we take out one of them before making them withdraw." She raised an eye in response to that, not that Chrono could see, considering he couldn't look back with some bruise or another would act up and cause him to wince, before she immediately decided to… _enlighten_ Chrono on exactly who they were facing.

"Chrono-kun." Her normally happy-go-lucky voice was replaced with coldness, immediately garnering Chrono's attention and making him fall as silent as possible, the only times she used this voice were when she was rather… angry, which Chrono had never witnessed and _wouldn't_ witness if she could help it, or when she prepared to deliver… worse than usual news.

"Shamal is _the_ greatest healer, all the way back when she was first seen… at the end of the Lawless Era, and probably before then as well. Zafira and Vita are among the best at hitting something until it breaks, and getting up regardless of how much damage gets dealt to them.

"Signum… Signum makes all three of them look like _children,_ Chrono. The only one who has a chance of matching her and _winning_ is the _Reaper_." The blood in his face decided to drain and leave him pale at her blunt statement, to which she gave a slight nod. While she rarely liked to make him worry and hid… a lot of what she'd done from him, she'd be brutally honest if it helped him understand the threat of who they were facing. The Wolkenritter weren't some terrorists holding a school hostage, nor a militia that had to be put down, or even normal soldiers.

Just from what little she knew, courtesy of Signum, they had faced several creatures and individuals that made the majority of Aces seem insignificant. Even she wasn't as strong as those beings, though… the three less threatening members were apparently better in those days if Signum was to be believed.

Her Chrono's next words came out as a whisper, barely able to be heard despite her being right next to him. "What rank is she?"

"Magic-wise, Borderline-S. Lethality, same as the Reaper. SSS."

Silence was what answered that statement for all of a minute, something that made a rueful smile form, until finally Chrono found the will to speak again. "How are we alive?" Her smile stayed in place as she regarded that answer, finishing healing Chrono and helping him up with a firm hand, feeling only the most minute shudder from him in the process. Pride seeped into the smile at that, even when told about those odds, he _still_ refused to let fear in… if only it wasn't because of that incident.

"Your guess is about as good as mine, if a little smaller." … Well, that was little white lie, her guess was a bit better than Chrono's but not much better, she knew Signum and her 'quirks' a little, but not as much as Clyde had. "Best guess? She just doesn't want to fight, maybe because we're friends, maybe something else. We'd have to ask, and given how tonight went, it's not likely we'll see her around for a bit."

Another sigh left her before she shook her head, clearing her head of thoughts and returning her focus to what they had started from… or what she thought they started from. "Whatever the case, we're alive and well… for the most part."

Neither of them noticed that Nanoha-chan wasn't moving until they hit a lull in their 'argument'/conversation… whatever it was today, and looked at the girl finally noticing how _bad_ a condition she was in. After a moment of looking at her without either of them doing anything, she decided to walk over and look over the girl and see what all she could heal, Chrono following behind her shortly after to see if he was needed.

Surprisingly, it was actually less threatening than it looked, still dangerous if it wasn't treated, but much, _much_ better than it could have been. "Hmm, she must have been holding back a lot, on top of Nanoha-chan's… ' _impressive_ ' pain tolerance."

Chrono looked honestly curious about how she knew that, what little she could see from her peripheral, though he stayed quiet as she looked over the somehow _sleeping_ girl. Eventually, after an idle thought of _how_ Nanoha-chan was sleeping despite the wounds, her Chrono eventually speaking again as she started the healing the more 'life-threatening' wounds. "What makes you say that?"

"It's all damage that can be healed with a basic healing spell. No majorly damaged organs, no damaged bones, no major bleeding. It's just cut skin and a slightly punctured lung, easy enough to fix without much issue." She didn't need to look at him to know of the incredulous look he had, nor that he walked silently up to her and started healing what little he was able to while she focused on the more important matters.

Barely two minutes passed before they were done to the point of Nanoha-chan not being in danger of bleeding out, with Chrono only having to stop once to apply a barrier around them when the Wolkenritter's barrier fell apart to hide them from the civilians. She could honestly care less about them, but it was more trouble than not to let them see the aftermath of a battle… or brutality.

She probably wouldn't have been 'employed' as quickly if she hadn't demonstrated the latter in the middle of the City on Calnarog, at least 'Sister' came to pick her up and deal with the Albino Anzen threatening the Tribe. It'd been nice to see Sahar again… even if she had become an alcoholic since the last time she'd seen her.

Stretching her limbs again, she finally decided that it was time for them to go, exemplified by Chrono failing to stifle a yawn, a soundless chuckle let out before she finally decided on an action for them to take. "Time to go. You two need your rest after this."

"And you don't?"

She let a smile grace her instead of answering, hefting Nanoha-chan up onto her shoulder again for the second time this week, only a slight stirring showing she was still semi-aware, before walking away. She never answered that question, and it never failed to bring amusement to her when Chrono 'sulked' after failing yet again.

* * *

' _Father' was a kind man, if a little 'unstable' in the head._

 _Despite being the chief, he never led any hunting parties in the time she knew him, always going off on his own and hunting with only his own weapons and instincts. That said, he was still there enough that when he and Sahar were together they acted like family, and eventually she too was allowed to join in, and she was considered unofficially as their kin._

 _It felt nice, having a 'Sister' and 'Father'._

 _Life was nice, she hunted and people accepted her as a person, rather than do whatever it was they did before. 'Sister' learned how to use Magic, it was nothing special just making fire with only mana, but she still learned it on their own. 'Father' was proud, and at the same time saddened, which only made sense later in her life, while she tried to get 'Sister' to teach her how to do it, something that eventually Sahar gave into._

 _Life was fine._

 _Then the Meeting came, and the Bureau took Sahar away._

 _She understood now why they did so, unlike other worlds, Calnarog didn't have too many people capable of using magic, fewer still took the time to so much as try and get it to work. Those few that did were normally picked up by the Bureau at the City when the Meeting took place, to become Aces. That was the way it'd been since the Bureau had found them._

 _It didn't change the fact that she didn't want her 'Sister' to leave her, not after just becoming family._

 _The tribes of Calnarog met several times per year, what would be a year to Mid-Childa marking the Meeting's date, it was a time of revelry for the tribes that remained, a time of grief for the tribes lost, a time of rest after the hardships of Calnarog. None of the tribes liked to live in the City, it was wrong and anathema to them, they who lived without rules or comfort, the only reason they came was it had been built on the Still Island, and the Still Island was where every other Island eventually returned to, no matter the path they took._

 _Because of that, only she and 'Father' were up in the City with 'Sister', walking her towards where the place that kept the City living, the spaceport. The City wasn't sustainable, farming in the way Mid-Childa and other worlds used wasn't reliable on Calnarog, the ground was too hard and filled with stone and metal to accommodate plants beyond the grass, and water traveled with the Islands, and were unpredictable where they fell and diverted course._

 _Since it wasn't sustainable, the Bureau had to regularly bring in supplies and materials to maintain the City, because Calnarog's Aces had proven in the past, they were worth the cost of the City._

 _The paths they walked were strange, made of something like stone only weaker, lined with buildings of the same material or something stranger and lights on sticks. The City wasn't too large, the Still Island was large true, it's only issue was most was covered in water, apparently a third of it was covered in water, and while the rest of it was covered in buildings and roads, it didn't hold a candle to cities elsewhere._

 _Not that she would actually know, all she'd seen was it, the city she was currently in at the present, and technically a smaller one on Mid-Childa for a few days. The rest were just ruins._

 _This was the only place the Bureau had any authority over on Calnarog, evidenced by several enforcers walking about the streets, a few eyeing them warily before resuming their patrol. Foreigners didn't interact with them often, the Meeting was the only time they ever saw them, and even then, at a good distance. Her people never went to the City unless they had to, the Foreigners never went outside unless they had to, it worked fine that way, the 'civilized' people and the 'savages' would never understand one another. Such was life on Calnarog._

' _Sister' and 'Father' were silent, both unusually somber about the affair, contrasting with 'Sister's' normal happy-go-luck outlook and 'Father's' halfway-gone stare. It felt wrong, too closed in, too many people around, too much_ stuff _, not enough freedom. She didn't like it here._

 _Eventually they arrived at the spaceport, little more than a glorified hangar and landing pad, it was enough for what they needed here and that was it, the best that was given to a place in constant need of supplies and repair. On the landing platform was a single ship, an ugly thing of unnaturally-shaped metal and buzzing noises that made her even more uncomfortable. A ramp led into the thing, though it barely looked like it would fit more than a hunting party of eight in it, and at the bottom was some man dressed in the strange clothing the Foreigners wore, blue and white._

 _Idly she noted the armed men around the hangar and around the landing pad, standing at attention with their hands on just as strange weapons at their waist or stamped into the ground. Then she immediately discarded the notion of them and fingered the weapon at her waist, a rounded square of rock crudely grafted onto a small metal pole. The man at the ramp noticed them coming and started to walk towards them, hands behind his back and making her tense as they all stopped a bit from one another._

" _You're the new Ace?" Sahar gave a curt nod to the man, the officer giving a nod back before continuing to speak whatever else he apparently needed to, something she reluctantly listened to. "The Fleet Admiral wants us to get you to Mid-Childa as soon as possible for an evaluation." A pause as he seemed to consider something before finishing his little 'briefing'. "You have a few minutes until we're clear to take off, say your goodbyes, I'll be on the shuttle."_

 _Another curt nod from 'Sister' was enough for him to nod back, turn around and stride back to the shuttle, leaving them to themselves for the short time they had. For a long while none of them said anything, Sahar taking a few steps forward before turning around, the hint of a smile forming as she tried to raise their spirits. "Well… guess I'll be seeing you'll another time…"_

' _Sister' turned to her first, leaning down to her height, and giving a gentle smile reserved only for her. "You take care Lindy, have fun hunting, keep trying to understand the fire within your chest and keep our Old Man out of trouble alright?" She gave a quick nod, a tear threatening to form until 'Sister' wiped it away with a light laugh, getting back up and turning to 'Father' and letting the smile drop._

 _No words were exchanged, only a single item, a necklace with a burgundy gem at its end, the crystal pulling at the metal cord and pointing off away from all of them, off to the island they followed. Without any words, she took the offered necklace and slipped It on, nodded her head once and turned back to her, and let the smile return as she spoke to 'Sister'._

" _Bye-bye. Stay safe Sahar."_ _Her 'Sister' flashed a confident smile at her, before ruffling her hair and turning away, hefting her axe onto her shoulder and marching towards the ship hat would take her away to the Bureau. She didn't do anything but watch 'Sister' until she disappeared into the shuttle and the ramp closed, no acts were done when the shuttle lifted off and disappeared into the sky, neither she nor 'Father' did anything as Sahar left them for another, worse place._

 _The enforcers shifted uncomfortably, they were used to some form of attachment, or something resembling 'life' whenever goodbyes were exchanged, seeing their peoples' way of goodbye, unorthodox as this one was… They weren't them. Those of Calnarog, and those of the other worlds… they could never understand one another. They still were unnerved when they silently turned and head back the way they came, it would be a longer journey without 'Sister's' fire._

 _She was right to be worried and scared for Sahar. None of the Aces from Calnarog had ever come back home._

 _Eventually she'd go to. It was only a matter of time since 'Sister' had taught her._

* * *

The night was calm… far too calm.

Nanoha and her two guests that were lodging in their main house had gone out to fight again… not that he was worried, Nanoha had long ago proven that she was capable of taking care of herself without him… Really he was only still around because he was holding on to her title and keeping the clan in line until she was ready. Nanoha… ha… it hurt to so much as think now… his body was failing him faster than he was expecting… ha… just a little longer and he could go meet Momoko again…

A light tapping reverberated through the floor… they wouldn't be back yet, and they wouldn't be coming to this abandoned building either… No one but him did anymore, except for today apparently.

He didn't get up and position himself to greet his visitor, too much… effort to spend. Instead he just sat on the edge of the porch and stared into the forest… he could remember when there were sounds other than nature in those woods at night, and even in the day. He missed it…

Eventually he heard the padding of footsteps alongside feeling the tapping through weary bones, finally turning his head to look at whoever came to see him, becoming pleasantly surprised when he saw Kyōya quietly walking towards him… They disagreed on much, but they were still… 'close'… and Kyōya was regularly concerned for him and his declining health.

He was the only one really concerned, he welcomed it while Nanoha and Miyuki-chan were oblivious as always.

He didn't try and get up to greet his son, knowing full well that his body would falter the moment he took a step… still he inclined his head in acknowledgement and gave a soft smile before returning his fading gaze back to the forest. It was such a beautiful scenery… what a shame none of them were able to paint its beauty.

When the footfalls stopped near him without Kyōya coming into view he turned and regarded his son again, seeing the worried frown across his face and instantly losing most of his good mood… Ha… "Come and sit with me… Kyōya." For a long moment, his eldest didn't move a muscle as he regarded the 'request', eventually walking over from his place near the wall and sitting down at the porch's end next to him… they hadn't done this since before the incident occurred…

Neither he nor Kyōya spoke for several minutes, his son taking several moments to look at him with concern before turning back to try and find why he was just staring into the forest, while he was content to just watch and listen in comfortable silence. Eventually though Kyōya turned fully to him again, his face cold yet angry as he _again_ tried to tell him to do something.

"You're getting worse Tou-san." Ha… he already knew that, he could feel it eating away at his muscles, choking his lungs and giving stabbing headaches with every though… He didn't need someone else to tell him what he already knew and felt for the past few months… he didn't need anyone to tell him… "You need to go to the hospital and get you illness checked. Otherwise you are going to die Tou-san."

His smile hid a bit of sadness at that, not because he was going to die… no… because he was making his son worry over him when he should be more worried over himself and his sisters. "That would be… a pleasant thing. It isn't as if any of you need me anymore." From the corner of his eye he saw Kyōya look over at him with a hint of anger over concern, beginning to retort angrily with an answer he knew would come. Kyōya's responses were easy to recall after so many arguments.

"Nanoha-"

"Nanoha hasn't needed me since she was born." He interrupted Kyōya before he could so much as start the second word, without a single hint of coldness or bitterness in his voice he continued before his son could try and form another word. "Miyuki never needed me, all she needed was a bit of guidance from your mother… The only one who has needed _me_ was _you_ Kyōya."

Discouraged and near-reeling from the blunt truths he spoke, Kyōya barely managed to respond in a concerned voice. "Th… That may be true, but still…" A sigh, almost turning into a cough, interrupted the young man, a sadness making the smile fall and be replaced with a depressed frown… It hurt… it hurt to think, it hurt to move… he was past his time, when everything was right and great for him.

"Kyōya… I'm far too old for this life…" … He may be young compared to most, not even at forty yet… but… he'd seen, witnessed, done and suffered through far too many things… Too many faces of those murdered seen each and every day… "… you never needed me to tell you how to live your life…"

… He wasn't that great a parent, he knew his children's names… he knew what general activities they enjoyed doing… and that was it. Momoko… Momoko had been the one that showed them the way… he was there just to pick them up again when they fell. "So, I will ask you to do the same for me… this one time…"

For a long time Kyōya simply stared at him miserably, caught between concern for him and the 'desire' to adhere to his wishes. A minute passed, then two before he, as much as possible, calmly lowered his head, quietly muttering under his breath his answer. "… Against my better judgement, I'll take my leave then Tou-san."

"Kyōya?" His son looked back with a confused glance, justified since it wasn't like him to call any of them back when he dismissed them… Even so he still had two more things to say… just in case he never got a chance to say them again... "… I am proud of you… keep your sisters out of trouble, alright?"

For a moment, despite the gloom and darkness, he felt happy as his son's face first became surprised and a touch joyous, before hardening into a mask of cold and steel, giving a nod of his head, turning back around and walking away, one last reply drifting back before he vanished back towards their home. "Of course… Tou-san."

He stared after his son for only a short time before turning back to the forest, finally letting his strength fade and allowing his body to show its pain, coughing quietly with a hand covering his mouth… Whatever it was that was killing him slowly, it took its time and likely if had _not_ wanted to die and get it checked… this sickness would be cured without any issue whatsoever.

He looked back into the trees as his little coughing fit came to an end, an image of a woman with auburn hair smiling at him with playful grin greeting him, the memory… apparition, whichever it was now that he knew Magic was possible, held out a hand to him. "Momoko… Momoko…" For a moment his hand shakily rose up as if to grasp her hand… only for the image to fade and his hand to slowly drop back to his lap… Another sigh passing through before he continued to watch the forest.

Everything hurt… Only a few more days before he could let go… a few more days until he could join her…


	19. Ascent VI

_Amount of Hugs needed: 15,339_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 8,627_

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

 _AN: Discovered a mistake in Ascent III, specifically the name of the Device Chrono was using, it has been fixed for a while now, and for the reader's sake, its name is Durandal. Now have a good day._

* * *

 _She dreamed without knowing why._

 _She found herself in Razing Heart's domain, the empty world of black, the only difference this time being the crimson lines above in the void were joined by erratic pink. There was… 'water' lapping over her feet, a muddy black that refused to show what she was standing on, the entire world was black, with only the lines providing color and light. It was a dreary world, not at all like the worlds she saw in her dreams._

 _And in the distance lay Razing Heart, or the body she used within this world of hers._

 _She stood waiting for her, a blank face that was a moment away from curiosity or satisfaction, a sword in hand that Razing Heart was using to scrape the shield she wore on her other arm, for whatever reason she did that. Razing Heart didn't stop as she waded through the water, not a single ripple coursing through it in a mockery of what was supposed to happen, which was oddly unsettling and comforting at the same time for some reason._

"Welcome Home, my Seraph. Dreary as it is." _Of all the words spoken, those were not what she expected in the least, easily read by the Device as she didn't speak for a short time, amusement lighting up the woman's face and settling in as she placed the sword back into the shield and let them disappear. Razing Heart didn't say anymore, seemingly waiting on her to speak rather than continue with pleasantries, something that was both... concerning and extremely confusing._

 _She didn't respond to Razing Heart's welcome verbally, just giving a little nod of acknowledgement before trying to come up with a way to address the Device without outright asking if something was wrong or why she was acting strange. ...Which turned out to not be good since she had almost zero ability to begin a conversation or topic with someone else, so she spent a good minute or seven just standing there in concentration while her Device just stood there smiling._

 _Eventually she came up with something, blunt and crude as it was it was something, which was a massive improvement. "You are… lively, Razing Heart." The Device laughed, openly and without warning, an act that caused her to nearly jump in surprise, though she did take a step back before Razing Heart abruptly finished with a smile, though one that barely hid… something she felt familiar with._

"Lively? Why yes, even if she wasn't going all out, you managed to keep up with the _Traitor_. _While_ you weren't wearing the form of the Seraph. No magic, no allies, no distractions, _no deaths_. You fought her with steel and skill, and that was enough." _She was still smiling, and the smile finally made sense, bloodlust and a joy at having done something, or being proud of some action, she didn't know too well._

"This place reflects the nature of my wielders. Each place has something that is the same to another… Except this one. _" She stretched out a hand and held it out towards the endless darkness and water, a sense of emptiness falling on her as she tried to follow the direction the hand pointed in, only to see nothing but the void._

"This place is just an empty void."

 _A long, long time was spent silently looking around and acknowledging that statement, truthfully now that she thought about it, it was concerning after the several varying places she'd seen in the dreams. "Is there a reason it's like this?" A second passed before Razing Heart let a light laugh echo through the void, dying just as quickly as it came before she looked her dead in the eyes, smile quickly breaking apart and returning to a neutral line._

"I am not a seer, nor a scholar my Seraph." _She gave off a little bow of her head, nothing too deferential, only a bit of acknowledgement, before her head came back up and she smiled gently… she… she hadn't been prepared to talk with a Razing Heart this… 'unhinged' from her normal stoic self._ "I am a Device, one that has witnessed much. That is all."

 _She quieted for a while, and so they stood in silence again, with only the water lapping at their feet making sound within their private place, until Razing Heart spoke again._ "With that said however, I can make a single guess." _She looked at her with a critical eye, something that made her tilt her head in confusion as the Device continued to look over her before deigning to continue with a strange tone, something between confusion and excitement._ "You lack something that the other Seraph's didn't, a purpose, emotions, something that makes one… have meaning."

 _The Device shrugged without a single change in her expression, not seeming to care much for the question or it's answer, adding one last sentence before finishing._ "That is all I can possibly guess at, Seraph of Blades."

 _Quiet descended again upon them, with only the light sloshing of water echoing in the void as Razing Heart strode towards her, her face changing to a gentle smile that wasn't unlike Okaa-sama's whenever she was taking care of her… it felt nice. Barely a few seconds later and the woman was in front of her before abruptly stopping, not another action taken after, just staring down at her._

 _Of course, that was when she got a question lodged in her head, specifically,_ why _Razing Heart called the pink-haired Knight what she had, and why she seemed to be so furious at the mere sight of her, much like she herself became furious at seeing the red-haired Knight. Though with that said, she took a moment to think about how she was going to say it, before near-immediately giving up and deciding on her usual method, being brutally blunt._

" _Who was the Traitor?"_

"Traitor? _The Traitor?" Her voice quickly grew in rage the moment she asked the question, making her take a step back again as Razing Heart took a step forward, a scowl ripping apart her face as she growled._

"She is the _Murderer_ of the Seraph of War. The _Betrayer_ of the Kingdom of the Saint-King. A Warrior without peer, and a… _being_ that has lived since the Kingdoms of Belka were founded. _" A pause sounded as Razing Heart calmed herself slightly, the hate retreating back and a deathly calm voice sounded from her mouth, the only trace of the fire remaining in her strange eyes. "_ She is Signum. The only being to have undying hatred in my core."

 _For a long while they didn't do anything else, Razing Heart stewing in the hate of her seemingly 'eternal enemy' and herself… 'unnerved' by Razing Heart's emotional outbursts. Still, she had only one question to that, and once Razing Heart seemed to have 'burned out' her anger, she decided to ask it, though wary of any other outbursts the Device would have. "I don't understand the second. What is the Kingdom of the Saint-King, and how did she betray it?"_

 _There was no outburst this time of rage, instead only a forlorn look of longing and tiredness blanketing the woman as she sighed and slowly covered an eye with her right hand, eventually answering after shaking her head just as slowly._ "… That is a story for another time, my Seraph. For now, sleep fully." _She nodded her head as her Device looked at her with a soft smile, kneeling down into the water before closing her eyes and drifting off, the last words of her Device echoing behind her._

"Soon, there will be much to do."

* * *

"We had them! Why'd you order us back!"

Again, she dealt with Vita's relentless questions without much care, just them two as Hayate was out of the house with Zafira and Shamal, to meet one of the girl-Suzuka's other friends. Still… her patience could handle the incessant badgering and questions sent at her without issue, she'd dealt with it too many times to _not_ have the patience required to sit down with Vita… especially since it was always the same conversation time and again.

She was glad for that on some level, it meant she barely had to dedicate any kind of attention to Vita during this conversation, especially since she was currently cleaning up after the lunch held some twenty minutes prior. It wasn't like she was hurrying through it, she actually enjoyed the mundane tasks of household maintenance… if only she wasn't being constantly bombarded with questions about things she _hated_ doing.

She closed her eyes as she heard Vita stop speaking for a moment, a breath taken before she noted that Vita was looking at her and was nearly scowling, not unusual for the girl whenever she wasn't answering her the first few times they had these conversations. "Are you listening to me Signum? Damn it, answer me, I ne-"

"Tell me Vita." At her words, Vita immediately shut her mouth and listened, something that was both an annoyance and a blessing, her eyes opening as she turned and fixed the younger Knight with a piercing stare. "By the time I finished my fight with the youngest of them, would you, Shamal and Zafira still be standing?"

Three, two, one… "What's that supposed to mean?" And there it was, right on time… haa… could Vita have tried to come up with a new way to respond? It shouldn't be that hard to say _something_ different than every other time she said something that would be 'cryptic' to the girl… No, it was for Vita, she didn't have memories like her, this was the first time this kind of conversation occurred to her, not the roughly one thousand, twenty-third time.

She didn't sigh though, because despite her annoyance and tiredness at being subjected to this again, she wouldn't show it to Vita, mostly because she'd mistake it for something else and try and hit her again, not that that method ever worked. "You were told, weren't you?" She paused to give Vita a chance to figure out what she was talking about, only to receive a blank look as the younger Knight tried to recall what she was talking about, a minute going by before she let out a sigh and just continued on with the conversation. "An A-ranked combatant cannot defeat a S-ranked combatant, even if the former is backed up by four comrades of similar strength."

The look of concentration fell away the moment the last word was said, Vita's face changing to annoyance and a hint of disbelief as she replied near angrily. "Yeah, I remember that, and then I also remember you saying she wouldn't be a problem."

She did, Lindy Harlaown wasn't a threat to her, to the other three Knights, she was a terror to behold from her defense and offense, at least for them she was, for her though… the last time she'd had a challenge was when the last Seraph and the Berthold heir had fought her. Disappointing that the fight was what it had been. "True. But that isn't including the girl."

Vita's expression shifted again, always something that was strange to her, how easy someone could just change emotions without trying… maybe she was too old to understand how that was possible. Regardless of her thoughts, her younger sister asked her a question in reply,

"Did you figure out who she was and how she could regrow limbs?"

"I do. Not that the knowledge helps us in this case." Vita looked at her strangely for that answer, not that she could blame her considering knowledge normally _helped_ to at least plan around… but Seraphs were rather… unpredictable even with the knowledge that they could heal from near anything. "The short answer, it's rejuvenation, not regeneration, and it's more a curse than a blessing, though she'll probably not care."

"How bad is it?" Concern? Strange coming from Vita of all people, the younger Knight rarely had sympathy or empathy for anyone besides the Wolkenritter and their Masters, maybe she felt a little guilty for whatever reason. Regardless, she didn't care all too much about it, whatever was running through Vita's head was meant only for Vita to know, not her or anyone else.

"If left unchecked while fighting, she'll kill herself before she reaches fifteen." She felt only a little amusement and sadness as Vita's mouth nearly fell upon in shock at hearing that, not that it was surprising to her, she looked the same age as Hayate, and Vita probably was putting Hayate in the girl's place instead. "I'm surprised though… that she was still standing when I decided to take her seriously for a moment."

She didn't receive a reply, Vita apparently too engrossed in the fantasy she'd left for her and not bothering to focus on the conversation for a moment, something she was both happy and a tiny bit annoyed with.

"What about the other kid?" Hmm? She must mean the boy with blue hair, Chrono Harlaown as he'd introduced himself days ago. … Oh, that made things _so_ much more complicated for her, why couldn't there have been some random Ace instead of her friend, her friends' son and a Seraph… the worlds were not kind to them or their Master, everything simply kept getting worse.

Regardless, she had to reply, it would be strange if she didn't and Vita would agitated and either yell at her, or stop the conversation and just stomp away. "Negligible. Only redeeming quality is Hayate likes him." Not a lie, she barely knew anything about him, and very few could actually be a 'threat' to her now… she just had been around too long and had fought too much, as well, Hayate had enjoyed every single story he'd told her when they met, and had expressed a desire to go visit those places…

It hurt to promise her they'd go someday, knowing that she wouldn't survive the trip as she was, even if that pain was dulled from the many Masters before her.

She turned back to her prior task of washing dishes, clinking and clacking sounding from them as she placed them against one another after a thorough wash, a soothing endeavor that she wished she could have done with every prior Master… the last time she got to do this was with the twenty-third Master, and that was a _long_ time ago.

Eventually though her task finished, without another sound from Vita as she placed the last dish with the rest and turned off the water, drying her hands calmly before moving around the house, picking up items for a… 'errand' she felt up to doing a bit later. The younger Knight noticed her preparations with a confused look, her mouth opening once as she grabbed a set of keys before closing immediately after, until she had everything and made her way to the door. "Where are you going this time?"

She stopped just short of the door and turned back around with a somewhat-tired look, she barely had an idea of what she was even going to do, just feeling the urge to go out and do something that didn't involve staying cooped up with Vita and the apparent lethargy she was dealing with. Still she had to say _something,_ otherwise she'd have to deal with Vita wanting to come along, probably, and ruining a peaceful excursion that could have something productive done… that could work.

"I'll be calling in a favor, and after that I'll be cleaning the house."

Vita was already nodding and sitting back down when she said the second part, the younger of them stopping and looking back from her haphazard position on the couch, looking at her critically before bluntly stating. "… You just did that not even four hours ago…" So she did, the house could use a cleaning though before Hayate got back, besides it would help her relax after the 'favor' was called in.

"Your point?" Still regardless, she felt the need to answer Vita on this, mostly just due to Vita barely doing anything unless she was told to do something, or she was interested in doing it, fighting being the latter for the most part.

Vita didn't say anything else after that, which left her alone to open the door and walk outside, to 'call in her favor', hopefully she'd get information on why things were like they are.

* * *

A meeting with Arisa and Hayate-chan… this would be… hopefully not a disaster…

Arisa was… blunt, violent and had next to zero respect for others… not that it was hard to understand why given her circumstances… but… it was hard to get around now that she had to introduce someone to her… Hayate-chan was… almost the complete opposite. Kind, gentle, worried about others and had a family that loved her despite illness after illness being put on her…

… Haa… this was going to be a disaster wasn't it… no going back unfortunately…

Hopefully Hayate-chan woul- … Oh… That… that was lucky, and shouldn't have happened…

Down the walkway, amidst the light scattering of people up at this hour, was Hayate-chan being pushed along by one of her guardians… Shamal if she remembered the name correctly, with her 'dog' trotting along next to them. They weren't meeting anywhere fancy or such, though she could have set up such a thing easily, just a nice out of the way café near downtown… because while she and Hayate-chan probably had no plans after the short meeting, Arisa would come up with something for them to do… provided things went well.

Getting up momentarily from her seat, she waved at her friend and her guardian, Hayate-chan giving a shaky wave back shortly after seeing her, before Shamal led them over to her. It started out nicely, just talking about the days between the last time they saw one another, or she did, Hayate-chan listened and coughed, and tried to say words… but that was hard to do for her now with each word stuttered for seconds at a time.

After a while, probably a few minutes, she decided to give her warning about Arisa… after a while of silently debating how to start it. "Um… A few things before you meet Arisa, don't mention her family, and don't under any circumstance call her anything other than Arisa."

Both Hayate-chan and Shamal looked at her with curiosity when her warning registered, the older of the two asking the question that both of them probably had. "May I ask why?"

"If you do, she'll punch you in the face, illness or not. She already did it to a few teachers and students. She got suspended, but considering how well she does... she really couldn't care less about that and it barely does anything… Especially when her parents only see the grades and not any notes." Both Shamal and Hayate-chan slowly had looks of shock form on their faces, even the 'dog' seemed to look at her when that was said.

It took a while for them to gain back their composure, not that it was that much of a surprise… Arisa had a lot of issues… probably as many as herself and Nanoha-chan together if she were honest. After their composure was back, Hayate started to ask a question, which she listened to intently. "I-is sh-she re-re…"

Hayate-chan was interrupted by one of her coughing fits, Shamal immediately rushing around the table in worry, with herself nearly getting up as well before remembering that she wouldn't do anything. After the coughing subsided and all that was left was a bit of shuddering, she replied to what she thought was the right question that Hayate asked with a small nod. "Yes, if she wanted to, she could skip every grade and go straight to college… if she didn't have issues she probably would."

She got a blank, wavering look for that, and immediately she knew she messed up… that was the same face that Kaa-sama and Onee-chan got when she did something wrong… "Th-a-t wa-as-n't-t wh-a-t-t I-I w-wa-s as-k-ing…"

"Oh." She had the decency to blush and look embarrassed… that was the 'right' thing to do in this situation… at least she thought so… "Um… yea… she has… issues, mostly stemming from her family that make her very… irritable. Just… don't do any of what I said, and she won't do anything. … _Hopefully_ …"

The last part was muttered under her breath, which thankfully Hayate-chan didn't seem to hear, before she went silent and waited, looking for Arisa as Hayate-chan had a small coughing fit and was tended to by Shamal… She felt miserable listening to Hayate-chan, even though it passed by quickly… seeing someone seemingly so fragile that was her friend made her want to help… but honestly, _what_ _could_ she do?

Thankfully a familiar face came by, normally something that made annoyance or weariness well inside of her, and her miserable sadness was replaced with trepidation and relief… at least with Arisa she knew somewhat how to handle.

Quickly moving to her feet, and almost startling her companions by accident, she raised a hand into the air, waved and called out to her 'friend' as loudly as she'd been told was acceptable in public. "Arisa-chan!"

"Suzuka-chan." Arisa walked over, taking one look at her with a smile that was probably as fake as her own, before turned to Shamal, quirking an eye at the woman, and moving to Hayate, finally saying the first words of her meeting Hayate-chan. "Who's the cripple?"

… Way to go Arisa… Way to go…

Silence stood for a while, Arisa looking over towards her for an answer, Hayate-chan looking shocked while Shamal and somehow the 'dog' gaped at the blatant disregard shown… and she just put a hand up to her head, sighed and took a moment before replying in exasperation. "A… friend of mine and Nanoha-chan. Her name's Hayate, please don't call her that again."

She got a shrug in return, the most she would likely get from the other girl, as both Hayate and her other guardian finally seemed to get over their shock, with the latter looking at Arisa in… something, while Hayate-chan looked uncomfortable. "Whatever, why'd you get me over here? Not that I'm complaining since you got me out of the house, but I hope it's something worthwhile." Another sigh left her mouth before her hand dropped back to the table without a sound.

"I was… hoping you'd at least be friendly with her… but you've already made a bad impression." She got a shrug in response… this was such a bad idea… but she didn't want to just run into Arisa while with Hayate-chan when Arisa didn't know. That'd end… poorly… probably.

"Do I look like I actually care if she's a cripple, or if she's whole and healthy?" … While Arisa had a point… she could have been a lot less blunt about pointing it out… Honestly though, if Arisa _had_ cared, now that she thought about it, her expression wouldn't be bored, it'd be _furious_ and she'd have just gone with violence the moment she saw Hayate-chan… so this was going somehow very well.

"U-um. E-ex-cus-e… m-me." Both of them turned to Hayate-chan, Arisa arching an eyebrow at the weak sound coming from her friend, while she hoped that Hayate-chan wouldn't somehow accidently anger or annoy Arisa. Hayate-chan continued in her weak, stuttering voice shortly after getting their attention, trying to be friendly despite Arisa's… lack of tact. "I-t's-s ni-c-e t-to m-me-et-t y-ou, A-r-i-sa-ch-" Arisa interrupted Hayate-chan before she could finish the sentence… something she felt slightly bad for since Hayate-chan's illness made it hard to talk…

"Ne, don't worry about the honorifics, I don't care too much about 'em." Hayate-chan gave a slow, shaky nod, and coughed slightly, which Arisa thankfully waited for her to finish before moving on. "So, considering you're bound to that, I take it you barely go outside. Am I right?" Another shaky nod, without the coughing fit this time, and this time Arisa nodded along, eyes closing for a moment before she asked a different question… that was actually thoughtful for her. "Thought so… what's your favorite thing to do then?"

Caught off-guard by the question, or maybe just from Arisa's constant words, Hayate-chan stuttered for a moment, before finally answering in a slightly weaker voice. "U-h-h… I-I l-li-ike r-re-adi-ing… a-an-d de-si-g-ni-in-g cl-o-oth-e-s." A distant nod was Arisa's answer, something that looked like curiosity drawn on her face, a rarity for her… that was… good?

"Oh, I don't care much about reading anymore." Confusion painted Hayate-chan's face for a moment, something Arisa immediately saw, and correctly guessed what it meant, something Arisa was better at than herself. "I read four dictionaries front to back and remember it all from three years ago, and nothing since has stimulated me. Anyway, I'm curious about the designing clothes, got any drawings on you?" After the first part, Hayate-chan had given a nod in understanding while remaining silent until Arisa finished, at which point, she shook her head, causing Arisa's intrigued look to drop and be replaced with something between disappointment and annoyance. "Damn… was hoping I could see."

"I-I c-a-an b-ri-ing-g s-so-me n-ne-x-t ti-im-e." Hayate-chan's reply brought Arisa out of whatever she was in, and anticipation was quickly hidden by frown that didn't reach her eyes… Arisa didn't know who to lie properly yet. Then again, she never cared much for it at all.

"That's fine, you ever try and make one?

"N-No-o… I-I do-n't-t ha-av-e th-e mo-ne-y t-to…"

"Hmm… that won't do. That won't do at all… I think I can get some money for you to start making something if you want."

"U-um-m y-ou d-do-n't…" One look from Arisa silenced Hayate-chan's attempt at refusing before it had a chance to fully start, which had Hayate-chan fumble for a moment before she resigned herself and went with Arisa. "U-um… t-th-an-k yo-ou… H-ow-w ar-re y-ou g-g-oi-in-g t-"

She broke down mid-sentence into a coughing fit, making her, Shamal and the large, strange 'dog' jolt and look at her, Shamal rushing over and mothering over her with a worried look. Arisa… Arisa just sat there, looking unconcerned aside from a slight frown, but she at least waited for Hayate's fit to end before continuing the prior conversation. "I have my ways, Hayate."

She looked so proud and mysterious saying that, complete with a smirk that would have fit on Kaa-sama's face if she were in a particularly good mood… It shouldn't have come to a surprise that she decided to ruin that feeling for Arisa with a single statement, which Arisa wouldn't take too kindly too. "You're going to ask _them_ aren't you." Arisa looked over at her, the smirk falling apart quickly as she shrugged, giving a quick reply without the reaction she expected and slightly dreaded.

"More like I'll just filch a bit of cash from 'em. Not like they'll notice a few hundred disappearing every week."

There wasn't any real way to respond to that, so she just nodded and they lapsed into silence for a moment, before Arisa started asking a few more, unimportant questions. A few minutes passed, and she let a smile creep onto her face at seeing Hayate-chan herself smiling, and Arisa… not trying to pummel someone into the ground… her smile lasted up until Arisa started talking to her again.

"By the way Suzuka, your mother called a couple nights ago, said she didn't know where you were. I'm curious as to what you were doing that caused you to be late, considering you've never broken your curfew once since we met and I punched Nanoha in the face. And got punched in the face." A wistful smile was on her face for whatever reason… Arisa was strange in that way, it beat her actually performing violence at least. "Good days."

"Um… yeah… I fell asleep after taking a walk with Hayate and meeting Nanoha and her guests on the way. Nanoha-chan took me to her home, and let me sleep there." Arisa looked intrigued, though since neither of them had actually seen her home before, she would just assume that was what had Arisa's curiosity piqued. It took a while for her 'friend' to process what she said, eventually replying while Hayate and Shamal just watched their exchange quietly.

"… You actually saw her home… What's it like?" She guessed right… Well… she barely actually paid attention considering she only got to see the outside as she was leaving… and Nanoha-chan's room… which was far sparser than it should have been. There was literally nothing in that room beyond the essentials…

"Lots of buildings… all traditional. There were a few people there though…"

She trailed off, and _immediately_ , Arisa had her eyes narrowed like Kaa-sama's when she knew that information was being withheld… which given she trailed off and didn't finish… yeah… "You're not saying anything something. Spill."

… If there was anything she didn't want to actually talk about… it was that… at least with Arisa. She wouldn't mind talking about it with Hayate-chan, or even Kaa-sama… but Arisa would get violent with her if she was told… probably. It was hard to tell sometimes with Arisa, what would happen… more than everyone else she lied to and tricked. "…"

Unfortunately, her silence only made Arisa more determined, the other girl's face hardening to the point where she looked down just to avoid having to look at the same kind of look that Kaa-sama gave her when she screwed up. "I said. _Spill_. Or I'll just find out from Nanoha." … And Nanoha-chan couldn't lie to save her life… haa… may as well admit now…

"… I… may have asked Nanoha-chan to sleep with me…"

"… … What?" She looked up to see Arisa's face quickly become a bright red at her cheeks for some reason, blinking rapidly as she tried to process what she said… even though it was simple to comprehend. "You- You're no- Why-" Since Arisa hadn't actually asked her a question, she just looked over at Hayate-chan… only to see her and Shamal both red-faced as well… she was missing something. "Why did you ask that, and where did you get that damn idea?"

… Arisa was mad at her… or at least frustrated, it was hard to tell with her face red and her words jumbled together. That said though… she took a moment to look back at Arisa, before immediately ducking her head at the heated look she was receiving, before quietly replying. "… I read it in a book…"

"U-um-mm…" She looked over at Hayate-chan when she made a noise, still red-faced… and she was bleeding from her nose, which thankfully Shamal was taking care of, but she probably should have that checked out by a doctor later. Anyway… Hayate-chan continued quickly with what she had to say, probably to 'out-run' a cough fit. "S-su-z-u-ka-c-ha-n… y-ou-u ar-e-n't sup-po-sed to-o a-an-y-th-thi-ng i-in th-ha-t bo-o-k o-ou-t he-r-e…"

"… She didn't say no to it…"

"You asked _Nanoha_. The girl who's _barely_ above you in knowing how to do social activities. Why _would she!_ " She looked even further down… it wasn't like she was _supposed_ to know, no one told her anything on how to act and talk to people, and what little she did know was useful in regular conversation after lots of errors… and Arisa was back to speaking from the noise. "For future reference, and don't forget, only do that with whoever your spouse is _way_ later in life, or with a sibling before you hit puberty."

Her head tilted to the side, and with both innocence genuine and fake she asked a simple question. "… What's puberty?"

Everyone around her looked at her, including the 'dog', with varying amounts of embarrassment showing on each of their faces for some reason, Hayate a bright shade of red, Shamal having a light dusting on her cheeks and Arisa slightly red with a hand in her face, seemingly torn between embarrassment and exasperated surprise. After a brief moment of silence as they worked out her question, Arisa sighed from under her hand and briefly spoke as her hand removed itself. "… I'll tell you later."

She nodded quietly and listened as Arisa continued with a slew of mutterings that everyone at the table could easily hear, and she felt a hint of indignation at being the target. "You're as much of a handful as myself or Nanoha… just without the violence." … She wasn't going to answer that… or refute it.

"Whatever!" Arisa's sudden, and loud, exclamation jolted all three of them up in surprise before locking eyes with Arisa, she still had red on her cheeks, but it was slowly going away. "Are we going to actually do anything, or are we just going to sit here talking?"

The question… really shouldn't have been a surprise… but given the conversation they had, and the fact that she was fine with just chatting away with a tea or something similar… she had to take a while to actually answer Arisa. "I… I didn't have anything planned… did you want to do anything, Hayate-chan?"

"N-no…" Hayate's answer was short, which was good for her, as even a word seemed to be a challenge for her friend to manage. After that, they both looked at Arisa, who had frowned in concentration while muttering under her breath at some point before they looked at her... which eventually became an actual question after half of a minute.

"… Alright… just a meet and greet. We could go shopping or something?"

"That's fine…" She looked over to Hayate-chan for her own input to Arisa's suggestion, who just nodded as best as she could with a smile on her face. Arisa gave a nod of her own before abruptly standing, taking a breath and almost strided off before she called out to her 'friend' to wait for them, which thankfully managed to quell Arisa for long enough for Shamal to get Hayate-chan ready to leave. And then they left the café with Arisa leading the way to somewhere while she lost herself in a bit of monotony.

That went well… except for her blunder being brought up and realized…

* * *

Sitting down, enjoying tea, and watching her 'student' for a while train… and listen to yet another tirade from the kid that got them all into this mess about him wanting to help… the boy should really know when to leave other people's problems to themselves. Anyway, aside from that little annoyance of sound, watching Nanoha-chan go about her training was always… _interesting_ if nothing else, the sheer ease with which she went at anything was something she could only compare to Sister and her fire magic.

Making new spells as if they were child's play, which it was if she was honest though that was biased due to _what_ she was, twisting them to make something innately different whenever she needed something new, and then her prowess with her weapon. The length by itself on a sword should have meant that it was unwieldy to the point of being unusable, but given her experience with more… 'exotic' weaponry that Aces usually had, she shrugged it off and continued on her original thought.

Yesterday alone, Nanoha-chan had shown that she was capable of holding back Signum, something nobody save _maybe_ the _Reaper_ could do… though she'd never know due to the two never meeting as far as she knew. "-an help! I'm good with Chain Binds and barriers, ther-" … the kid was getting annoying, and making her lose her concentration…

Going back… _again,_ Nanoha-chan was rather something to watch whenever she didn't go off into the forest to 'train', really, the girl couldn't be less obvious that she was making 'illegal' spells out in there, or making things that she thought were frowned on. She didn't use many spells aside from her 'flight' and the 'illegal' spells, which was… not as interesting to watch as other Aces, mostly since few Aces weren't proficient in melee their Device, and they tended to supplement with more spells that didn't just enhance themselves…

With that said though, the way Nanoha-chan enhanced herself put herself physically above most Aces, at least the ones she'd met with. Nanoha matched _her_ in strength, which put her just below Sister in terms of brute force, her toughness was a bit above the girl's, while she was vastly outdone in speed.

Those combined with the fact that the way she fought with her weapon meant she'd be a terror to most Aces, even herself given a few years… because if there was anything that could be said to be a… _negative_ quality of Aces as a whole, it was once they reached a certain point, they stopped improving themselves, instead just refining what they'd made or been taught already. Sister and her mass of fire was a good example of that, and she herself was getting there… she'd have to hope Chrono-kun and Nanoha-chan didn't fall into that 'trap'.

Nanoha-chan would make a good Ace… hmm… she'd have to ask her after this was over if she'd like some more work. It was doubtful that she would join the Bureau in any way, from what little she'd been told, the Takamachi clan were a family of Mercenaries, and she seemed to be entirely into the 'family business' and wouldn't be beholden to a single side… unfortunate as it was.

It'd be disappointing that Nanoha likely wouldn't join the Bureau, but that was life wasn't it?

She took a sip of her tea and smiled in contentment as it hit her tongue, Bob's tea was excellent as usual… though it was always lacking _something_ to it to make it _perfect_ … Well, whatever was missing, they'd find it at some point, and she'd _savor_ that brew for as long as it lasted.

Her contentment and small longing didn't last long, the Scrya that had continued to annoy her with his insistences that he could 'help', _as if_. "Please let me help, I can do a lo-" Losing her patience finally, she lowered Bob back onto his saucer, took a silent breath before interrupting the boy before he could continue his tirade.

"Be quiet will you? You're making my tea taste worse with your whining." Her voice was cold and brisk as she looked at the young boy with a look that made him flinch, but still look at her in conviction, or something similar. "Besides, why are you even so 'adamant' on helping out? You're not a enforcer, you're just an archeologist unless I'm forgetting."

She had to give him something, while he may have been stunned for a moment from her tone, the kid barely wasted time getting over his shock. "It's my fault you and the rest of your crew are stuck here, so it's my fault that you-"

"Stop." He did without any further prompting, whether from some kind of respect or from fear didn't matter, letting her mull over the _ağılsız_ düşüncə… great… she slipped back into Kyrtanha because of how idiotic that was. Not letting a single trace of her irritation and annoyance out, nor looking at the boy since her eyes would very easily let her emotions show, she spoke in a voice harder than what it had been, moving to the Admiral mindset rather than keeping to herself.

"That reasoning is among the stupidest I've heard, and I've heard and _made_ several stupid reasons archaeologist." From her peripheral she saw the boy look affronted with a hint of anger mixed in, an expression that immediately went still when she looked at him dead in the eye. "Frankly I don't care about your 'reason' for wanting to join this giant mess, I'm just not going to let you join in, because I already have _three_ children on my mind that are in danger constantly, I don't need another one."

She let out a sigh before looking back to Nanoha-chan, strangely standing still with her sword sheathed, one hand on the handle and another on the scabbard, facing towards one unfortunate training 'dummy' a short ways away that had survived the training bout until now. Exasperation aimed at the Scrya shifted to curiosity at what Nanoha-chan was doing when abruptly the 'dummy' slid off it's post without the girl having moved at all.

Then Nanoha-chan's left arm and leg _erupted_ in a fountain of blood.

On her feet and halfway to Nanoha even as the Scrya let out a noise of alarm, her 'student' dropped to her knee with a confused look on her face… though the ever-present smile was still there and made her entire demeanor look… _wrong_. She didn't let it bother her though, instead reaching the girl and looking over the wounds with her hearing catching the tail-end of some muttering of Nanoha's. "-an't feel anything?"

She was silent all through out looking over the girl and her injuries, not trusting herself to say something that was either in Kyrtanha, curses or both. … Beyond the immediate dropping to the ground, Nanoha seemed to not even notice or show that she felt whatever just happen, staring at her wounds with curiosity rather than being barely cognizant as she _should have been_. From the little she could see on a cursory look, the skin ruptured for some reason _outwards_ and at some points she could see muscle through the blood.

" _Bədəninizə nə etdin_?"

It took Nanoha looking up at her and tilting her head before the realization that she spoke both out loud _and_ in her native language dawned on her, not that she showed it what with repairing whatever had just happened… that she could repair anyway. She wasn't a medical specialist, so all she could do was mend the skin together and heal the muscles underneath to where they wouldn't bleed any more than they had.

After the leg was healed up, allowing Nanoha to get back to her feet _somehow_ , despite the fact that her damaged muscles should have made it impossible for her to stand, the Scrya came over and took over healing the skin of Nanoha's arm, while she fixed the muscles underneath. After everything was done, with Nanoha checking her arm over, in curiosity rather than wariness, she herself took a breath before asking the girl, " _What did you do?_ "

Nanoha looked at her, her entire face shifting to confused, before she tilted her head and looked back at her arm saying nothing. A few seconds later, she nodded for whatever reason and turned back to her, "Sternekicht-Tanz. I put too much mana into it." and said those words, the first one or two making zero sense to her besides maybe being a spell, as if it was something simple.

After dealing with the Scrya finally after her patience being worn, and now confronted with Nanoha, she was understandably not in the right frame of mind to deal with this. So with a curse under her breath that Nanoha likely heard, judging by the tilt her head did again, followed by a statement of "You're dealing with her right now." to the other kid, she turned on her heel and walked off to let her patience build back up.

Hopefully by the time she built it back up she'd be able to go an- Oh for-!

A grumble of annoyance left her throat at the 'ringing' in her head, courtesy of someone deciding to 'call' her via devices, before she walked over to a porch and sat down, barely preventing herself from grounding out a _"Yes?"_ Barely two seconds after that she got an answer from whoever called her, the words not giving off any sound like normal talking did… the only unfortunate thing about 'talking' via Devices.

" _A meeting tonight, 8:00 P.M., at the Tsukimura park."_

… Straight to the point… at least she wouldn't be 'talking' for long, and would 'calm down' quicker because of it, though the actual content of the message was… It could have been a trap… but only a few things made her rule that out immediately, communications with outside were down, nobody here would 'call' her when they'd just walk up to her, and if the Wolkenritter had a connection with her they wouldn't set a trap for her to walk into.

Despite those, she took a while to deliberate whether to go, taking almost a minute before slowly 'saying', _"… Sure."_ across the 'call' and waited for a response… it came quickly, and didn't even acknowledge her statement.

" _Goodbye."_

… And then she got 'hung up on'… normally that was her doing that to someone else… At least she'd have time to 'mellow' out, calm herself and get ready for this meeting… not that there was a doubt of who she was having this meeting with now.

Haa… after this was over, she really wanted to just… stop and leave the rest to Chrono… She was getting too old for this…

* * *

There was nothing special about this place she claimed for the meeting with her friend, no landmarks or interesting objects to be found, it was just a normal park full of trees and the occasional paved road.

She'd told the others, as well as Hayate, that she would be out this night talking to an old friend, of course Hayate questioned it, but she'd managed to get her Master to let her out after telling her of some… 'legends' she'd had the displeasure of participating in. Only two thankfully before Shamal had ushered Hayate to bed, but she still hadn't enjoyed recalling those memories… especially given how they normally ended.

Regardless of the earlier events, she sat and waited on the grass, idly going through some of the more 'happy' memories that she'd experienced to get rid of the less pleasant ones dredged up in her storytelling earlier. The times the Wolkenritter spent as a 'family' to their Master, rather than Knights… few and far between as those times were, they made up for the worse times.

She waited for another four minutes and fifty-three seconds before Lindy arrived, holding the teacup Device she always had with her and looking slightly serious, which was more she'd ever seen the younger woman have in the entirety of the lifetime she'd known her. Raising a hand in greeting to get Lindy's focus, quickly getting it since there was nothing else here, she stayed sitting and waited for the Ace to cross the distance.

Wasting zero time as soon as she got within hearing distance of her, Lindy spoke, with only a hint of humor manifesting after the initial question. "So, what's this meeting about Signum? Can't imagine this being a social call given you and the recent events." The moment after she finished, the Ace sat down and looked intently into her eyes… hmm… she'd changed a lot since the last time they met, even in the worst situation they'd found themselves in, Lindy had always been cheerful or joking.

Whatever had happened, she wasn't about to pry, seeing as they were here for a reason. Five seconds passed while she thought and observed, not a single more before she answered without any hesitation. "A parley."

Lindy looked at her with an unamused expression, waving her free hand haphazardly as she sat down in front of her, barely thinking before replying with a slight annoyance. "Yes, yes. You said that before, now _what do you want_?" That was simple to answer, so just as quickly as the younger woman had replied, she gave her own answer.

"Knowledge, and a Ceasefire for a time."

There was silence for three minutes, neither her elaborating on what she meant nor Lindy asking what it was she wanted specifically, not until her friend sighed and tilted her head down did the silence break, sipping from her teacup before finally talking again. "… I get asking for knowledge, just not specifically _what_ you're wanting. As for the Ceasefire, I could care less really, if you want to do it and can rein in the others, go ahead, I'll do the same for my two. Not that I even understand why you care about it."

She didn't react to the last part, Lindy was correct in that she didn't understand, nor would she even understand her reasons, so she completely ignored it and answered Lindy's question shortly after. "That's good. I don't enjoy fighting you or the two in your care." She meant it… though, it wasn't the full truth. She hated fighting, but… it was the only thing she was good at besides household chores… and few of her Masters were... considerate enough to let her do as she wished.

A sigh left Lindy's mouth as her words registered, the younger woman taking a sip of her tea directly after before sighing again and speaking again somewhat tiredly… it was strange, to see someone she knew to be so lively seem so dejected. "Alright Signum. Now, what do you want to know?" Barely three seconds passed before she was ready to answer, nothing but cold logic in her voice as she listed the two questions.

"Why are you here and why can't we transfer to the other worlds. Nothing else."

A shrug was given in response, before Lindy took yet another sip of tea… she was still addicted to the stuff, not that it was that much of a surprise from who Lindy was, before she answered with slight disinterest. "Easy enough. I'm not in the best position given some… _idiocy_ that got played on me, so the Bureau sent me to go pick up some Lost Logia. Stuff happened, had several people after the Lost Logia, including little Nanoha, and it ended with a Dimensional Quake." She felt an eye raise in response to the… lackluster and brief explanation, something her friend took notice of quickly and shrugged again with an unapologetic look. "No, I'm not kidding."

She continued without wasting her breath, something that received a smile in turn for less than a second before disappearing. "Lanes are down, which is why you and the others are stuck here right now… been months and the thing's still not repaired, though it'll hopefully be back in one piece in a week or so… maybe the end of the month."

Her mouth turned into a frown while her eyes narrowed as she processed the information Lindy gave her… the last part Lindy had spoken of was completely bad. Dimensional Quakes weren't that common, with maybe one occurring naturally every decade, though what they lacked in quantity, they made up for in sheer destructive capability. The Quake that apparently was the cause of this was _artificial_ from the way Lindy had spoke of events, brief as she was, which explained near nothing, except for why it happened.

Regardless of that, the consequences of a Quake happening were immense, the main one being zero ability to move from this world to another… and if Hayate's sickness kept growing worse… the Wolkenritter wouldn't be able to leave this world before Hayate… "We don't have that time…"

Lindy turned her head down, sadness and exhaustion etched into her features as she gave another sigh and shook her head slowly before giving a reply, sounding just as tired as she looked just now. "Sorry to hear that. She seemed like a good girl… Mmm, wish I had a daughter like her, it would have been… nice…" She trailed off, wistful and exhausted, a small smile on her face… she was learning, though her broken shell of humanity… what it meant to be sick and tired of something that was inevitably pointless. To fight, to kill… it all was pointless.

She didn't say any of that though, while she was certain Lindy would agree on some level, she was also… fundamentally different than others, something she never understood beyond 'she was raised differently'. Instead, she focused on what her friend had said, and replied to that, a light smile appearing as well as she did. "I imagine she would have enjoyed having a parent to coddle and dote on her… She's a good girl, she doesn't deserve whatever she has."

The Ace laughed, short and bittersweet, and shook her head yet again, smile still in place as she looked up at the starless sky above for a while, several moments passing before she spoke again. "That book of yours certainly knows how to choose its owners decently… too bad they're all somehow sickly to the point of not making _any_ sense. Still… she seems like a good girl… just like my brother-in-law."

There was no reply she could make to that… She didn't want to ruin Lindy's perception that all of the Wolkenritter's Masters were great and wonderful… the one before the last was… a terrible being, full of sadism, malice and the desire to destroy, without a hint of the sickness that engulfed the more benevolent Masters. It was a good thing, that the Ace wielding thunder killed him, or else a world would have burned.

Her head was left to clear out those thoughts in silence, Lindy thankfully saying nothing more while she was 'busy' before more 'positive' thoughts came. Then she deliberated, for a moment, closing her eyes for a second before reopening them, and speaking. "In two days Hayate will be staying at the Hospital until her sickness abates or…" She trailed off, the meaning clear enough that Lindy just motioned for her to continue, which made her feel, a small amount of amusement at the woman amidst her dour thoughts. "I imagine it'll do her good if you went and told her a few stories with that boy of yours. She's quite entranced with _anything_ you have to tell her about the worlds." Her eyes hardened in sync with her voice as she spoke the last part. "I needn't tell you to not mention current events if you come."

The younger woman waved off the last part, smiling as was supposed to be normal for her, making her smile as her friend was back to normal. "Of course, of course. No kid should know of that hellhole, let alone one with that much kindness and genuine life." Lindy shook her head with her smile still there, taking a long sip of her tea for the first time in a while for the addict, before finally putting her Device down and speaking again, a lilt of enjoyment set within it. "I'll come over the day after, alright? Just make sure Vita isn't there, I'd rather not have a potential fight there because of a rash and hasty decision on her part."

A chuckle left her, Vita _wouldn't_ take kindly to the knowledge that their 'enemies' were visiting Hayate… nor would she want the second-oldest of them to know to begin with, it was better to keep such knowledge to the three that weren't hot-headed. Silencing her chuckle after two seconds, she nodded her head once and answered Lindy with a light voice. "Call beforehand and I'll send her and Shamal out to do something meaningful."

"Alright, I guess we're done here Signum."

"Indeed. The knowledge and ceasefire are welcome.

The two of them spoke in turn with barely a pause between them, both smiling lightly before getting to their feet with tiredness settling in their bones… such was the price of living long in this life. Lindy spoke one more time, capturing her attention and making her smile drop as the younger woman did the same. "Before we leave, I'm fairly sure Nanoha'll disregard my orders next time we fight. Expect… things to go a lot worse next time."

The little girl with a relic from the distant past… If there was one relic of that age that still existed… that one had the lowest right to be here still… it dredged up memories of a time better left untouched, back to a treacherous Master... It was fortunate, that she would never fight against that _Monster_ in human skin again as long as she could help it. "Your warning is acknowledged, and disregarded. I won't be fighting her again."

Her friend's face went blank as she processed it, a smile dredging itself back onto her face as Lindy understood the implication of what she said before finally uttering out words. "… The next fight's going to suck. Eh, at least Chrono doesn't have to worry about being teamed up on." Lindy shook her head quickly, once more to her amusement, before turning and making to leave, calling over her shoulder just as she started walking away. "See you around Signum, I'll be visiting with Chrono the day after Hayate-chan goes to the hospital, so make sure to expect me."

Two words were all she said in response, two simple words that would be the second and last time she said to her friend. "Goodbye Lindy." She received a wave from the younger woman and nothing else as Lindy walked away, leaving her alone again. This wouldn't be the last time they met on good terms… but they would eventually fight again…

Sometimes… she hated being herself…

She stayed there for a long time… simply thinking and preparing herself for the inevitable end of this fight… It'd be a miracle… if any side in this fight had a happy ending.


	20. Ascent VII

_Amount of Hugs needed: 16,149_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 10,529_

 _AN: Changed a few things between Chrono and Lindy's conversations with one another, mostly just how Chrono addresses Lindy in a conversation._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

Three days passed, Harlaown-sama refused to let her out to fight again and so they simply passed the time in whatever way they knew how.

Chrono-san sparred with Onee-sama, and always lost even with Onee-sama taking it easy on him, constantly getting _slightly_ better after being beat into the ground. He made a second arm for some reason on his benches, left slightly mutilated and alone for the most part… maybe it was missing something? Other than that, he worked on his Device and spent time with Onee-chan outside of sparring, they seemed to enjoy one another's company, which was good since Onee-sama… wasn't as great with people as herself…

That said a lot.

Onee-sama indulged herself in the spars, she didn't get to have many since Okaa-sama died, and it must get boring after several years of just practicing. Other than that, she cooked, she took Chrono-san with her to the city to get food, basic supplies and other simpler things, like a new bow for her hair, a light blue like the morning sea, that she'd taken to wearing. She seemed slightly happier than before Harlaown-sama and her crew arrived, though she could have been imagining it.

Harlaown-sama… she did seemingly random things at random times without any rhyme or reason. One moment she would just be sitting and enjoying her tea while looking at the clouds, the next she would get up and start exercising with her Device, then the next she would just lay down and go to sleep… It was really strange… At least she had taught her a few things… and healed her when she went too far with her newest spells.

Those spells… they were dangerous and could only be handled for a short time before they'd do a lot of damage to her body… but the sheer ability that they had for those precious moments were incredible. She went faster than she could perceive, not that her instincts failed from the sheer speed, she hit hard enough to send Harlaown-sama _flying_ , and she could take a single hit from the hammer without any injury.

Unfortunately, she could only hold it for just above four seconds before her body could take the sheer amount of mana reinforcing and changing it. The only good thing to know was apparently she didn't feel pain anymore… somehow, after the first time trying Sternekicht-Tanz and having her injuries dealt with, Harlaown-sama had promised that she'd get that looked at when they went off to the Bureau to see what was up with that. While convenient, it made it much harder to know if something was wrong if she didn't have Razing Heart with her.

Today was to be a… strange day.

For one, Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san were going to visit Hayate-chan during the mid-day, strange really as Harlaown-sama aside from taking a tour of the city earlier in the month didn't go out at all… they did enjoy Hayate-chan's presence that one day on the tour. Alongside that, Otou-sama had gone out somewhere, where to she didn't know nor did she even ask him before he left, Otou-sama's business was his own and she had no reason to ask or know what he was doing.

So yes… today was strange compared to every other one that had happened so far, at least she understood her new spells, and had made an... surprise for her foes. It'd be a surprise, one they wouldn't expect after her usage of the base and its general worthlessness.

" _My Seraph, pay attention. Or else-"_ Her leg gave out on her and she fell to the grass, blood welling out of fissures made from her spell… the leaves looked nice with the sun behind them. _"- that will happen. Haa… Your pain receptors aren't working anymore, that's all I can tell."_

Absently she nodded her head… Razing Heart would see it and she didn't really feel like speaking in the wake of that. All she'd been doing for today, beyond the necessities, had been finding limits of her new spells, and asking Razing Heart to help her find out why she wasn't feeling much anymore, both of which she'd learned… Now that they were over though, she was stuck with nothing to do, aside from more training… which she didn't want to do _yet,_ it was fine to do it as part of a daily routine, but doing so every waking moment of a day _did_ get tiring after a while.

Which left finding something to do that wasn't training or making no spells…

… This would take a while… may as well find a tree branch that was 'comfortable' to ponder in since she wouldn't find her answer quickly. _"Is that all my Seraph, or may I go back to sleep?"_ … She would still need a tree, but she did have a solution to what to do, as she got to her feet, ignoring her wounds, and started walking through the forest, looking up for a branch that would hold her. "Razing Heart? Can you teach me something?"

She barely had to wait before Razing Heart replied back, something that always was nice since barely any time was wasted. _"Oh? And what would you want to learn, my Seraph?"_ What drowsiness had been there in Razing Heart's voice was gone, replaced with curiosity and a hint of amusement, the latter she didn't understand why, but it probably didn't matter.

"Anything that you want to teach. Science, History, Math, Philosophy, Construction, anything that you know and think I would benefit from learning." When Razing Heart's voice came next, the curiosity was gone as well, and left only with amusement, a light laughter echoing in her head that mixed with the words in a pleasant way. _"I see."_ The amusement remained, and she could feel it emanating from Razing Heart's jewel, strange but surprisingly… nice to feel.

" _Well, find a place to lie down and rest. I'll have something for you when you reach it. It's been far too long since I got to teach."_ She didn't say anything more in response, it wasn't needed anymore since a gesture was all that was needed to give agreement. _"Do make sure you bandage your leg when we get there. They may not be bleeding profusely, but I'd rather not have to heal you just because of a little blood loss."_

This time she did reply, after looking down at her leg and seeing that the blood was flowing slowly from the injuries still, "Alright, I'll do that before I jump up." More amusement was her reply… not that she'd understand why Razing Heart was amused.

* * *

 _Sister came back eventually, and aside from a few quirks and a wardrobe change, she looked mostly the same._

 _Sahar came strolling into the village, axe lazily draped onto her shoulder and a… 'bottle' in her left hand that was periodically brought up to her lips. She was dressed quite differently from when she was last here, some weird clothing that wasn't made of metallic leather, had rips in tears across the entire thing and was black like the night and red like blood. She also had several more of those 'bottle' things with her… whatever they were._

 _She was the same though, still smiling, lively and wasting little time coming to see her and Father._

 _Back then, she was sitting at the campfire, enjoying a meal of meat and gems when Sister arrived, having earned the latter after killing an Anzen… that had been an ordeal that even now was a crowning achievement of her life. She'd heard the commotion being made but aside from a cursory glance and seeing hunters gathered in a group, she paid it no mind and just continued eating… pensive and thoughtful over everything to happen in her life._

 _Then came the voice of the one person who meant the world to her at the time alongside a chuckle, making her whirl on instinct and recognition. "You've grown quite a bit Lindy. You're what, my height now?" There was joy and amusement making up those words, and she felt herself smile for the first time since the last hunt, leaving her meal for a moment to turn and look Sahar in the face. "And gems? What'd you kill that let you have those to eat?_

" _Sister!" Without warning she bolted up from her spot and barreled into Sahar, laughter coming out as she hugged her wayward kin and tackled both of them to the ground, "You're home, you're home!" While the sudden tackle-hug caught her off-guard, Sister didn't budge a millimeter, taking the 'blow' in stride and spinning her around laughing just as brightly as she herself was._

 _The contact lasted for a single spin before they separated, both her and Sister radiating happiness before she went back to her spot at the fire, beckoning excitedly for Sahar to join her, which happened with a chuckle. "So, back to my question, what'd you kill that let you have those delicacies?" There was curiosity and excitement in those words, something that was a rare combination here, excitement of the hunt was normally accompanied by hunger and blood-lust usually, while curiosity usually stood alone._

 _Regardless of that tidbit, she beamed with pride and her own excitement, she didn't think Sahar had ever done what she did, even if it was a youngling of its kind, she had still done something that most of the Hunters never were able to do. "I killed an Anzen on a Hunt!" Curiosity quickly became surprise, then again to pride and joy, before another laugh was let out and Sister decided to also pat her on the back._

" _Of course you would, little Lindy! I bet that thing has kept you fed for months now." She kept smiling and nodded, turning back to her food, grabbing one crystal of a light blue and offering it to Sahar, which was taken readily and greedily, before grabbing herself a bite of meat. There was comfortable silence beside the crackling fire, interrupted only by the sounds of children playing somewhere else in the camp, in which they ate the rest of their meal, Sahar drank more of that 'bottle' and she drank from her water canteen._

 _The silence lasted until she was full, she packed up the gems still around, Sahar_ really _liked them but then again, they_ were _rare and were only harvested from the greater beasts of the world, it would be strange if they weren't, and got up, Sahar quickly rising with her. After that they walked side by side to Father's tent, exchanging a bit of small talk until their home came into view, where Sister asked her a question. "How has my old man been since I left?_

 _She just shrugged, and answered briefly with an answer that should satisfy her. "It's Father, he's alive." Sister took a moment to think on the answer before shrugging in turn and letting the silence sink in, at least she was giving a smile, even if it was a sad and exasperated one._

 _Father had… issues. That was always the simple way to state them._

 _She let Sahar into the tent, and then she waited outside, immediately sighing in relief as she almost didn't hear Father and Sister throw barbs at one another… it would have been uncomfortable in there, she knew that well. Still that was who those two showed their affection… probably… and no matter what, it was alright for them to engage in it._

 _As long as Father didn't go off on his Hunts and get himself killed, it was fine._

* * *

"Admiral? Snap out of your daydream, we're here."

… Mmm, the memories were becoming quite annoying if she was getting them in the middle of the day… then again it was near time for her to sleep… she'd have to do that after they returned to Nanoha-chan's home. Hopefully she would manage to keep the tiredness out of her voice and thoughts, otherwise she'd disrespect Hayate-chan and Signum by association.

As was normal in this city, she got looked at strangely for her appearance on their walk to the hospital, which she shrugged off with ease since she'd dealt with it since the moment she left Calnarog. Given the rather easy, only a few turns and crossings over streets, if long walk, it wasn't hard to just lose herself in a memory or thoughts. Besides, actually talking with Chrono usually ended in an argument, and unless they really _had_ to talk with one another about something, it was often times better to be quiet and not say anything whatsoever.

Either way she smiled gently and nodded absently, looking up to see they were at their destination, some hospital that she didn't care to know the name of since she wouldn't be here after the coming Spring when the cherry blossoms were in bloom. Nor did she care about the details of it, since frankly, the structure didn't matter at all to her, only two to five people that currently resided inside. "Ah, thank you Chrono-kun. I got lost in a memory for a while."

Chrono didn't say anything to her, barely acknowledging that she even replied before walking through some sliding glass doors… those should at least be solid things with a window at head level rather than fully glass. Anyway, she strolled in after Chrono before quickly overtaking him and made her way to a counter where a receptionist sat, the man looking up and looking at her strangely just like the rest before asking what she was here for in a somewhat bored tone.

"I'm here to see Yagami Hayate if she's well enough." The man nodded absently at her reply before turning to a computer behind his desk, looking through for a few minutes before finally looking back up.

"She's available to be seen, I'll need you to write your name done on the register before then." She did so with a small clipboard and paper, her writing barely legible in the local script unfortunately, then motioned for Chrono to follow suit, which he did without complaint in a much clearer writing. Then they both waited as the receptionist took the board and looked it over, raising an eye at their names even as he looked affronted by the butchery that was her writing, before speaking again. "Room 209."

She thanked him with a smile, which was returned with an absently said 'you're welcome', before she led Chrono to the stairs, and walked up to the second floor. Hopefully, if they had a layout even remotely like Mid-Childa's hospitals, the first number determined the floor number, while the other two determined the actual room's number. If it wasn't… they would be walking for a while.

Thankfully for them, the hospital had the numbering somewhat like Mid-Childa's, floor number in front, and the room number after, which made things easier… if there hadn't been some seventy rooms, with closets having their own designations. It took around twelve minutes of wandering before they found the room, after asking for directions from a nurse when they somehow went from the 220s to 260s, whereupon she knocked on the door with her knuckle.

Clamoring came from inside the room, voices, objects moving and someone coming to answer the door barely heard over the din of the background occurring behind her and Chrono. A smile worked its way onto her face, a small, gentle one, as the door opened to reveal Signum, passive as she normally was, though with a hint of melancholy peeking through.

"Lindy."

"Signum."

A quick exchange of names for a greeting between them before Signum looked over at Chrono, blank face meeting mostly blank face before the older woman inclined her head, once more giving a single name as a greeting in the same near happy tone she herself had been given. "Chrono." He didn't say anything, just giving a respectful nod of his head, but Signum paid it little attention, turning and continued on speaking. "It is only me and Hayate inside, you don't have to worry about the others making things… difficult."

She smiled lightly, something that wasn't given in return, though that was expected since Signum didn't really show emotion on her face outside of her Masters, the only time she'd heard emotion coming to light outside of those times was when Clyde had asked her and his brother the question. Of course, she hadn't had time to appreciate it since she was… busy on Faurus at the time.

Signum moved out of the doorway, allowing them to enter the room without anything else said or done. The first thought that crossed her mind was how _sparse_ it was, there was practically nothing beyond medical equipment, a bed with a curious Hayate who quickly lit up in joy at the sight of them, and a window. Somehow a kind girl that managed to get along with them of all people didn't have a single 'get well' card or similar…

That was… saddening.

Her smile dipped slightly on the realization, but she kept moving to the wall where Signum had decided to occupy and let Chrono walk in behind her, a small smile on his face as he moved over to the bedside and sat down on the chair there. Once he was situated, Hayate-chan asked him about something, some story or explanation that she wanted to know and hoped he would be able to answer, and so they just started talking. That warmed her heart a bit to see Chrono actually interacting with someone around his age, if barely, normally, as well as seeing Hayate-chan so animated despite her frailty.

Between her and her old friend, there was a long stretch of silence as they just watched two children interact happily, both victims of some tragic incident that shouldn't be put upon a child their age. There wasn't a need to talk to one another, not when they didn't have anything to say that was for those two to overhear while they were happy for once.

The only other time she'd ever seen Chrono this happy was when he was making some random contraption out of scrap, every other time he was cold and acted far older than he was. He deserved this moment of carefree joy, just as much as Hayate-chan did.

Finally, after several minutes of just watching them talk about things, she finally decided to talk to Signum, quietly so as to not disturb Hayate-chan or Chrono in their talking. "It's both warming and sad to see them like this." She received a nod from her friend when she looked out of the corner of her eye, a hint of sadness appearing in Signum's eyes before it was gone just after she saw it.

"Indeed." For a while they just watched the two children interact with one another happily, never really reacting to any of the stories Chrono told, or the questions Hayate-chan asked him. Eventually though, Signum let out a sigh, and when she looked over, the older woman had a near visible aura of exhaustion emanating from her body, that same exhaustion buried in a few short words. "I am far too old to be doing this duty now."

Her mouth slowly turned tired and sad as she looked back to the other two, nodding her head slowly and agreeing with a much smaller amount of tiredness. "Yes… you more than me, but we're both too old for this." There was no humor, just another low, tired sigh from Signum, until her body froze on her next words.

"Unless Hayate gets treatment for her illness, she will die in a few days, two weeks at most." … Two weeks? Her head looked over to Signum, barely noticing that Signum barely even reacted to what she'd even said, instead just going over the statement over and over. Her smile was hollow, her eyes full of sadness… knowing that Hayate-chan would die soon was… even more heartbreaking than just watching her and Chrono have a happy time…

What she was about to say in reply to Signum was cut off when Hayate-chan decided to speak up as best as she could. "E-exc-us-se m-me, Li-in-dy-s-sa-n." Her head turned to face Hayate-chan, a question in her eyes even as her smile turned soft and happy from the change from her and Signum's prior topic, though she would still remember what Signum had said. "U-um-m, c-co-u-ld yo-ou, te-tel-ll me-e a-abo-ut yo-u-rs-se-lf?"

Her eyes blinked for a moment, then a second before finally she spoke again. "Talk about myself?" She got a slow, wavering nod in reply, a moment passing by slowly as she processed the question before finally shrugging. "Alright I guess." Now how to actually do this… the way she tried with Clyde had worked well enough, even though she didn't know a few concrete things… "I'm… according to Mid-Childan calendars… I think around thirty-five years old, I became an Ace at… twelve years old, I get drunk on tea, I have an adopted Father and Sister, and my full name if Lindy Harlaown. Other than that, there's not much to me."

"Ad-o-op-ted-?" Of all the things to focus on, Hayate-chan decided to focus on what was probably the least strange, then again she probably didn't know what an Ace was and the name wasn't that important if a person didn't know the story behind it, so it was somewhat expected. She _was_ curious why the 'drunk on tea' wasn't the question, but less said about that and the reasons for it were welcome.

"Birth Mother died in childbirth, Birth Father died a couple months later on a hunting trip. Got raised by the tribe until I was adopted by my Sister and Father after I called her pretty when I was around five or six... I think. Got taught how to use magic a few years after." She shrugged again despite Hayate-chan looking down in response to her answer, she never knew them so it wasn't that much of a deal to her, besides, "They died a long time ago, and I never knew them. Can't miss what I never had."

The conversation came to a lull as the other three processed that information, well, Hayate-chan and Chrono did, Signum already knew from past talks, and while they gathered their bearings she racked her brain for anything else that was 'important' to the conversation. Considering she stopped all talk and made the silence, it was probably up to her to get rid of it before the uneasy silence become oppressive and put a depressing atmosphere. "Hayate-chan, you have any more questions you want to ask me about?"

A weak nod was given from the girl, her voice shaky and wavering but still continuing strong. Hayate-chan was either very strong in will or really stubborn, probably both. "Ca-an y-yo-u t-te-ell m-me a-a bi-it a-bo-ou-t t-th-e wo-orl-ld-s a-an-d pe-opl-e ou-t t-the-re-e, Li-ind-y-sa-n?" Planets huh? So Hayate-chan was curious about everything the Bureau had in its place, as well as the worlds not under its protection, still she gave a smile and shrugged, and began about the two she knew.

"Well… at length, I can tell you about two planets, though one I know only a bit about in terms of culture, and that's it. There's a lot of worlds out there, and my job forces me to not spend much time in one place unfortunately. Is that alright?" She nodded excitedly, or as best as she could do of that as she could given her condition, and seemed eager to learn of the universe... she wouldn't talk about the events happening, that'd make the eagerness fall apart quickly. "Well, then let's begin with the one I don't know much about.

"Faurus… the people there are mostly scholars, traders and the occasional mage, they've been around for a long time, and have a lot of history recorded. Aside from that it's like a giant savannah, mostly grass with the occasional rock outcropping, lakes and trees, and for the most part they leave the menial stuff to these robots they build. They speak their own language, have their own culture, and they make some stuff you won't find anywhere else. Like mass-produced trees… which are really strange honestly."

"Other than that general information all I know is that it was the home planet of my husband." Sadness welled in her heart at her own mention of Clyde, though she didn't let it show since that would just make things worse for the mood. Chrono didn't react at all to that, not surprising since he had never actually met his father before Clyde died… haa… she was looking forward to retiring just so Chrono wouldn't lose another parent.

"W-wa-s?" … Wonderful, this is going to end up just like the question about her Birth parents… only Chrono would also be affected instead of just Hayate-chan, even if they had never once met in person… or seen one another at all across a video or picture.

With that thought in her head, she took a drawn-out breath that had Hayate-chan become nervous, and shortly after stated the simple truth and prepared herself for what was to come. "He died several years ago."

"… I-I'm-m so-or-r-y…" Hayate-chan bowed her head, sadness and slight shame etched across her face, Chrono looked away at the wall and a lull was made again that only she and Signum weren't apart of. She gave a gentle smile that held its own trace of sadness before, reaching out and placing her hand on Hayate-chan's head for a single moment, enough to get her to look up, before pulling back her hand.

"It's fine. It's been a long time since then." Hayate-chan looked up, still slightly saddened but at least she was looking her back in the eye, and the genuine smile, sad and happy as it was, put away the last bits of her shame, and soon enough her next words made Hayate turn back to curious and excited. "Anyway, I was about to start on my home, don't expect me to say how any of it actually works, because I'm not a scientist, nor have any been there since the planet was discovered."

"Calnarog is the name of my home planet. It's much bigger than any other world in Bureau, at least the ones I've seen, it has no mountain ranges, oceans or forests… doesn't even have lakes if I remember." An unspoken question was asked in curious eyes, and she felt her smile grow slightly before answering, amusement bubbling underneath a calm voice. "Only water sources come from 'islands' that float above the surface for several kilometers and drop rivers on the ground. And somehow the things float."

Receiving a look of confusion and what seemed like wonder mixed with deep thought from Hayate-chan, alongside one of just skepticism from Chrono, shortly after she stopped made her shrug minutely, she didn't know how or why the things floated, they just did. "Other than that, the only thing you'll see to the horizon is a cloudless sky of yellow or black, depending on the time of day, and an endless sea of lavender grass. Sometimes you'll see a mineral deposit sticking out of the ground, but aside from that, it's just a sea of grass and sky."

Calnarog was a simple place, besides the islands, it was one giant, near-flat plainscape. It was home… where memories of love and cheer were, regardless of anything that happened that was tragic or saddening. Her eyes went soft and her smile gentle and happy as she recalled pieces of the past, before ending her part happily. "Despite that simple description, it's quite a sight to see, and I'd show it to you if I could."

Merriment quickly encompassed her being as she saw Hayate-chan's mind try and create a picture of what she described of home, quickly gaining both awe and wonder as she did. "I-It s-s-so-un-ds-s pr-pr-ett-y…"

"It really is… and I'm not saying that because I'm from there and am biased…" She got a laugh from that out of Hayate, sickly excuse that it was, a snort of amusement from Chrono, and a tiny amount of amusement out of Signum. "Let's see what else… we live in tribes that follow the islands and water, we hunt rather large beasts that will feed us for weeks at a time, and we make tools and supplies out of natural metal and rock." A hand was put to her lower face as she looked up at the ceiling in thought, "Not much in the way of culture or buildings, we don't like cities, we live in camps of up to around three hundred people, and we do simple things. Not much else."

"W-wh-at a-a-bo-ou-t tec-" Hayate-chan descended into a coughing fit trying to ask her question, which had her worried for a moment, same for Chrono though he looked around to see if he could somehow help, and Signum looking on with a hint of sadness in her posture. She waited until the coughing fit faded to nothing and Hayate-chan looked back up with a pained expression that quickly faded to curiosity again before replying to what she supposed was Hayate-chan's question.

"We never got past hunting and gathering, since trying to do agriculture when there's no plants beyond grass and a water source that constantly moves is impossible, didn't matter that much to us though." … She needed something to drink, too much talking in a short time without having anything, let alone tea, left her throat parched, which wouldn't actually affect her talking, but it would be discomforting.

Beside her, Signum let out a quiet noise at her side, exactly what it was, she didn't know due to how silent it was, on top of Signum not reacting visibly. Her attention being drawn to the Knight caused both of the younger individuals in the room to look over at her, whereupon Signum gave a sigh before finally speaking her mind. "Out of all the worlds that are known to your civilization, your homeworld truly is the most dangerous Lindy."

A smile reached her face, before a chuckle was let out. She couldn't refute that, since while several planets were rather inhospitable, Calnarog was far more treacherous, given the lack of resources staying in a single spot, alongside long stretches of time when rationing was necessary and every creature capable of or made for killing. "I can agree with that statement, what with the animals and conditions." Her smile turned wistful, remembering her hunts through never-ending fields of lavender and coming up on rivers dropping from the sky. "Though, you have to admit it's beautiful despite its… issues."

"I would admit that much to you, if I had set foot there." Signum's amusement faded away after that statement as she looked straight at her, eyes narrowing just enough to be noticeable as the knight studied something about her before finally speaking. "You look tired Lindy, when was the last time you slept?" Right on que, she gave a stifled yawn that had amusement come to life in Signum's eyes and a miniscule smile appear, the other two individuals in the room just looked confused, though Chrono quickly sobered up and shook his head with a quiet sigh.

… What even was the time? She'd gone to bed at roughly five a.m. … yesterday, and judging by the clock that was glanced at, it was now a bit past six p.m., could be worse, dragging the Anzen back to camp, alongside the other bodies, had taken three days of no sleep. Good times though. Anyway… now to answer the question. "I'm an hour past when I should've slept… internal clock still isn't used to twenty-four hours days."

"I see." Signum shifted slightly, not nodding her head in acknowledgement butt instead looking over to Hayate-chan, her posture becoming more relaxed, albeit marginally, and her voice and expression becoming slightly softer. "Hayate. Do you have any more questions that you want answered from Lindy or Chrono?"

Hayate-chan started slightly, immediately moving her head to see Signum, then looking over at her, and then to Chrono before finally looking down and dejectedly letting out two weak, despondent words in response. "A-ah-h… N-no-o…"

Despite her tiredness, she managed to give off gentle smile, probably tinged with a lot of tiredness, but it probably didn't matter, slowly making her way over to Hayate-chan's side while Chrono started to try and cheer her up. As she reached the bedside, she started speaking out-loud just as Chrono finished saying whatever it was he was 'whispering', "Well, it's been nice talking with you Hayate-chan. I'll see if Chrono and I can come again some other time this week with Chrono-kun."

She paused for a moment out of hesitation as Hayate-chan perked up immediately on hearing they'd come back, a bright expression on her face quickly forming and a wide smile conveying all the joy she felt. A moment later, after breaking her hesitation apart, she moved her hand forward and lightly ruffled Hayate-chan's hair, just enough force to move the hair without pressing down since that wouldn't be… a good idea just because of how sickly the girl was as well as her own strength.

Still, she got a smile out of Hayate-chan on top of getting her out of the 'depression' she was in, that alone made the action worth it.

There was a small silence as Chrono moved around the bed, and Signum pushed herself off the wall and moved silently behind him, before Hayate-chan broke it just as she herself turned and walked after Chrono. "B-by-e L-Lin-d-dy-s-sa-n! On-on-ii-c-ha-n!"

'Onii-chan?' Her mouth quirked up at that, amusement and happiness bubbling up inside her that reached her face, thankfully with no one to actually see it since Chrono was ahead of her and looking forward, and both Hayate-chan and Signum were behind them both. She was sure she'd frighten someone, given that whenever she usually had those two seen on her face was when Bob and her were having 'fun' with the enforcers from her original group.

Regardless, both her and Chrono made their way through the halls, a thought forming in her head slowly as she watched Chrono fall back to her side and just behind her. Once she'd stewed over the idea for a good bit of time, having just made it to the stairwell that would take them back to the ground floor when she decided to talk out loud. "Chrono. How adverse would you be to having a little sister?"

Her question caught him off guard, given that he looked over at her in confusion without slowing his stride down, before finally working out a single word after a several seconds of silence. "… Why?" She smiled with amusement before turning to Chrono with a glint in her eye, sing-songing her next words with all the amusement that came from it.

"Answer my question and I'll answer yours~. Is that fair Chrono-kun?" Her question still tinged with amusement made Chrono twitch as he heard it, in turn making her barely shake with restrained chuckling.

"… Fine. I'm not adverse to having a sister, as long as you don't run off on them like me." Oh? Bringing that up was he? Well, he would given that it affected him deeply, and she actually hadn't yet shared that she was going to retire after this with him.

Either way, she decided to 'play along' with him, though her earlier amusement was diminished greatly by now, and what was a sing-song was now nothing more than normal speech. "I resent that slightly. Work was more important… and would you really have wanted me to actually take care of you?"

"Yes." His answer, simple and quick bit into her and held, her amusement fully gone now and replaced with a hint of self-loathing and depression… no matter how much she tried to justify it, leaving him with Graham and Lotte was a terrible decision as a parent. Regardless of whatever happened, she would never really be Chrono's mother, Lotte deserved that title more than her. "And is work really that important compared to your only son?"

Regardless of the decision she made, regardless of all the things she gave up for that decision, she stuck with it, for the sake of a dream and her Chrono. Even if it had made him hate her, it would have been worth it not to see him like this. "… If it had made sure you didn't have to be an Ace," There a miniscule flinch at the title, one she didn't blame him for considering how he got the moniker in the first place, just because one was a child of two Aces didn't make them automatically an Ace. Still she continued without pause, Chrono would still listen to her, regardless of the memory dredged up. "I would do it every single time."

Silence greeted her words, and if the seriousness of the matter wasn't enough, her posture losing every bit of levity and relaxation that had accumulated over the course of the visit and hardening instead was there to reinforce it. The Bureau wasn't in a time of peace currently, and from that came conflict, death and devastation. Both of them had seen parts of the conflict first hand, and she _knew_ Chrono never wanted to go back, that alongside the diminished numbers her ship had, made her choose to do 'peacekeeping' around the Bureau instead of going into the 'hotspots' like Faurus.

It's why she tried so hard to end it alongside many others, but it wasn't like a single person could save an entire nation.

The hardness left her, replaced by a relaxed posture before she sighed and got Chrono's attention, smiling sadly at him as she nudged him along with a few words, getting him out of darker times. "Well, let's get going before the other three decide to show up. I'd rather not have a confrontation in the middle of the day at a hospital of all places." He didn't jump or startle, merely nod before furrowing his brow and locking her with what probably would be a withering glare, had it not come from him after that conversation.

"You never answered my question." Her smile went from sad to full of mischief, and she hummed a little before deciding to just walk on, tossing behind a few words to him before looking back to see his response.

"I want it to be a surprise Chrono-kun." She let a quiet, light-hearted chuckle out after that, smiling widely as Chrono sighed and shook his head before moving after her.

No matter what, she would actually be a mother this time… she was getting too old and tired for work, and it would allow her to actually be a mother this time instead of running around and leaving her child with Lotte and Graham. This would be her last time fighting and leading, and she was completely fine with it, maybe one day she could show Hayate-chan Calnarog, from the safety of the City anyway.

That would be a nice dream to look forward to, now to make sure they all lived to see that day. But first she needed sleep, or else she wouldn't do a thing.

* * *

Harlaown-sama and Chrono-san came back later in the day, one deep in thought over something, while the other seemed confused about something. Chrono-san immediately went over to his work area, greeted by Onee-sama as she left the dojo next-door, before continuing whatever it was that he was working on. Meanwhile, Harlaown-sama set down a few things she had apparently come home with, collected her teacup after doing so while looking around, and finally after looking in her direction, Harlaown-sama walked over to her.

The time between when the two had left and now hadn't been spent lazing around, besides the teaching of some sciences pertaining to magic and machinery, she'd also done some more training, another trial of the third level of her augments alongside basic swordsmanship, and done some random cleaning around the home. It wasn't really hard to pass the time given things to do, even if some of them were mundane and without any form of want, though nothing was worth remembering beyond the lessons.

Harlaown-sama sat down on porch near her, and just watched her with a strange look, less looking at her and more thoughtful on something else. She left Harlaown-sama to whatever thoughts she was in and continued to kneel in the grass and lightly think on the enemies they faced, seeing as she had nothing occupying her now and finally saw fit to give them notice.

There was the pink-haired _Traitor_ , the green-clad woman, the wolf-man, and the Hammer-Knight _that broke Okaa-sama's sword_. Out of the four, the only one she didn't know anything about was the green-clad woman, considering she had no discernable weapon, it made sense that she was either a healer or some other kind of support, a trapmaster or a specialist in barriers. Aside from that vague support role guess, she knew nothing about her, and that made her slightly dangerous.

The other three were those she knew of, if only slightly, and could predict because of that. The wolf-man was a brawler, just like Arf-san was, hitting hard at close range and likely being able to take several hits as well, it would be wishful thinking to think that he would be _exactly_ the same as Arf-san, but a rough comparison was best. Likely he would be a bit stronger, based solely on his build, and a bit slower than Arf-san, and he probably had some ranged spells to supplement his approach, but aside from that, he was largely unknown.

Hammer-Knight was the only one she had extensive knowledge of, courtesy of the several fights they'd had. She tried to overwhelm the defenses with high speed and power, more fragile than Harlaown-sama's own form of fighting but far faster. Beyond that, she had a few ranged attacks that weren't useful anymore, and had a problem with being polite.

Out of the four, the _Traitor_ , was the most dangerous, toying with her even though she had taken Raising Heart's advice and calmed down into a cold rage, fighting with all her ability and experience. And she'd been toyed with, taken seriously for a single moment and _utterly_ _demolished_ in that one moment. A sword and sheathe was all she had needed to beat her, no magic, no tricks, no other weapons, just a sword and sheathe…

It infuriated and shamed her to be that outclasses by one person, regardless of who it was.

Sure, she had no pride in herself or her abilities, but to fight and be treated like nothing ground on her in a way that she was sure any other Takamachi would share if placed in this situation, if they weren't dead. And then to top that off, to be shown that the skills and swordplay she'd been taught and used was nothing compared to her made her feel… insignificant. Still, it was only a small part of her that felt that and she could quash it without much effort, it would be gone whenever she needed it to.

Silently she continued to think about those four, idly imagining fighting any of them again, simulating everything that was likely to happen, then adding in random variables at points, all up to the point that Harlaown-sama finally spoke softly, asking a question. "What are you thinking about, Nanoha-chan?" A few moments were taken to hear and properly think up a response as her 'fantasies' shut down, turning her head to face Harlaown-sama the moment she finished with both minor things.

"Fighting the four individuals from before in my head. I keep losing to the pink-haired one, though the other three are easy." Harlaown-sama took a moment to register that before breaking into a smile and bursting out in laughter at that, she didn't understand why, but let her slight confusion go to wait on the woman to calm and explain herself. It didn't happen after a minute, though it had lessened to chuckling, and to actually get an answer she decided to ask her own question in turn. "Why are you laughing at me?"

The chuckling took a few more seconds to die down, though she was still doing it a little under her breath as she proceeded to answer her question, humor in her eyes and smile as she did. "I'm not laughing at you really. I'm laughing at the fact that even in your thoughts, Signum is beating you up." Her head tilted in reply to Harlaown-sama's question, quickly identifying Signum to the _Traitor_ , but not understanding really why her getting defeated was worth laughter, though that thought quickly left to die as she decided it wasn't worth knowing.

Eventually Harlaown-sama fully stopped chuckling after a few more minutes, giving a happy sigh before again asking her a random question, completely different from the last one. "Nanoha-chan? What was your mother like?" It wasn't a hard question to answer after taking the time to remember Okaa-sama, her smile neither growing or fading as she reminisced in the past, before nodding and beginning.

"Okaa-sama was kind and strict, she ran the household and clan shortly before I was born after an accident and continued until she passed away." She didn't feel anything really talking about Okaa-sama beyond an initial sadness that came from the normal loss of a person, and it never bothered her to talk about Okaa-sama, not like it did with Otou-sama or Onii-sama. "Onee-sama told me that I'm starting to look like her more and more every day, though I wear less color. She was patient and nurturing, teaching me some things with Otou-sama alongside some practical skills outside of combat."

"Okaa-sama was Okaa-sama, and she was the best Okaa-sama I could have hoped to every have."

Harlaown-sama looked to be digesting what she'd said when she looked over, face slightly scrunched up in concentration and the smile remade into a thin line before she shook her head and went back to normal for her. It took a while for Harlaown-sama to give a verbal reply, and in that time she'd decided to take out the remnants of Okaa-sama's blade and look over them, continuing to do so even as words reached her. "I see... So I should be more strict and a bit more kind for her then?"

It was a whispered, wistful question to herself, the part Harlaown-sama asked after a pause, and yet her hearing heard it and her smile lessened slightly in response. "Harlaown-sama." Harlaown-sama looked at her in slight surprise when her name was called from what she saw from the corner of her eye… she'd need to do a bit of maintenance on her blade and Okaa-sama's later. Regardless of that thought, and her planning of the night, she continued with her 'advice'. "You are you, just because Okaa-sama's way worked for her, doesn't mean that it will work for you."

She didn't say any more to that, mostly because there wasn't anything more that needed to be added, so she set about looking over Okaa-sama's ruined blade more thoroughly. It needed a bit of cleaning along the remains of the blade, especially where the metal had broken, and given the lack of oiling she'd done on it, it would need some or else it would start to gain bits of rust. "… Hmm… Alright." She didn't react at all to Harlaown-sama's voice, focusing intently on the blade in her hand as she was, though she was paying attention. "Thank you, Nanoha-chan."

Again, she said nothing, though she acknowledged the thanks with a slight nod, and finished her inspection of her weapons, placing Okaa-sama's blade back into the sheathe, before getting up from the grass and brushing off her kimono with her free hand.

Nothing else was said as she walked past Harlaown-sama and into the house, off to clean, repair and find some last thing to do before the night came. Tonight she'd go out and look around for any of the four, and from that she'd let Okaa-sama's blade taste blood one last time, before allowing it to rest.

A few more hours, just a few more.


	21. Chapter 21

_Amount of Hugs needed: 16,886_

 _Amount of Hugs found: 12,242_

 _AN: Chapters 1, 2, 3 and 4 have all been rewritten to reduce their overall… terrible qualities._

 _Disclaimer: I do not own Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha nor any of the various seasons made after the original._

* * *

She assumed that it was commonplace that whenever someone was looking forward to something, it took far longer for the time to come. That was how it felt on waiting for everyone to fall asleep so that she could finally go out anyway.

Soon after she and Harlaown-sama spoke, Harlaown-sama went into her own room, presumably to sleep, but given who it as… it was hard to actually say what she was doing. Either way, Harlaown-sama was likely occupied the entire time, so that was one person she didn't have to worry about.

Chrono-san on the other hand was up later than normal when she went outside to return her cleaning supplies to their proper place, and by his side was Onee-sama. He seemed to be working on something new, something that wasn't related to his prosthetics, exactly what she had no idea, just like with Harlaown-sama. What she did know from sitting down on the porch and watching both Onee-sama and Chrono-san from a distance was that both got along rather well, somewhat like how Shinobu-san and Onii-sama got along.

Whatever it was Chrono-san was working on, it didn't need Onee-sama's help, seeing as she was just watching him put 'it' together with slight bits of wonder on her face, and it needed only his workbench, right now at least. For a moment she wondered what it was before giving up just as quickly, Chrono-san was a smith, one that made parts and pieces that fit together in numerous ways, she'd never figure out what it was he was working on unless she saw it.

It was rather nice, seeing Onee-sama with someone that enjoyed her presence as well as her being happy… probably. Onee-sama wasn't that good with expressing things, even compared to her.

Then, without any prior warning, Chrono-san just passed out and started sleeping, laid out on a work table. Onee-sama looked over at him, her smile softening somehow past her normal gentle look before she walked over to her dojo, stepping into the building for barely a few seconds before coming back out with a bundle of cloth in her hands. With an equal gentleness as the expression on her face, she glided across the grass back to Chrono-san, moved behind him, and proceeded to drape him in the cloth like a makeshift blanket.

Standing up fully from her place beside him, Onee-sama reached over to whatever he had been working on and picked it up in her hands. For a long moment Onee-sama just stared down at the object, before she gingerly placed it back down on the table. Turning around, Onee-sama found her watching with interest, Onee-sama's smile turning back to just normal gentle as she noticed her before walking across the yard to her side.

With grace that was expected of her, Onee-sama sat down on the porch's edge, humming once as she looked over at Onee-sama with a questioning look that was ignored for the moment as her sister simply watched Chrono-san's sleeping form. In a quiet voice Onee-sama spoke, happy yet confused, "Chrono-san is making me a trinket for helping him. I don't understand why."

Onee-sama tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes, thinking for a moment before her face narrowed in concentration until she shook her head slowly. Her own questioning look subsided in the face of Onee-sama's confusion and seeming uncertainty… it wasn't a look that fit with Onee-sama, so without hesitation, she thought for a moment before coming to a conclusion that seemed correct to her. "Maybe it's because Chrono-san likes you, Onee-sama?"

For a moment, Onee-sama seemed to consider that reason, thinking over it before shaking her head despondently. "No, no. Nobody likes me."

… That wasn't true. Just here in their family, she liked Onee-sama, Onii-sama liked Onee-sama, even Otou-sama did, though he had his own way of showing. She wasn't about to voice that out loud though, since Onee-sama wouldn't even bother to acknowledge what she said, probably saying that they didn't count or something else in that manner. So instead, she just sat there, sharing a moment of peace with Onee-sama as she tried to figure out why Chrono-san was making the trinket for here.

Time passed and Onee-sama stopped listing options to herself, a gentle smile came unbidden to her face when she looked over and saw Onee-sama leaning against a post, lightly breathing in her sleep. Quietly, she rose from the porch, taking care to step back up onto the wood without a sound and move into the dojo, looking around quickly before finding what she needed and collecting it.

Just as quietly and with a bit of care, she returned back outside with a sheet of cloth in hand, and wrapped it around Onee-sama, just like Onee-chan had done to Chrono-san. And with that action done, she walked towards the gate of the compound, crossing the grass between the buildings before passing onto the weathered stone near the gate. Through the gate and into the city, where she'd wait for any of the 'Wolkenritter' to arrive before she'd start fighting. Hopefully the Hamm-

"Nanoha." Her thoughts and body stopped in sync at the low voice behind her, before she turned around with a normal smile plastered across her face, looking through the starlit night back at her home to find Otou-sama standing there in the doorway… He looked tired, not physically but… Anyway, she turned completely to face him, tilting her head in question before he continued in a voice that matched the way he looked. "Come with me. Please."

… She tilted her head further in confusion just as Otou-sama walked off… Otou-sama _never_ said please, so whatever it was, it was bound to be extremely important to him. Confusion remained as she moved her head back to normal and followed after him into the hallways… he was moving slowly, which wasn't normal and caused what she assumed was concern to cross into her head. A short walk led them not to Otou-sama's room, but to a room she'd never been in, one that had a metal door instead of the wood every other one had, which Otou-sama opened with a key she'd never seen.

The room beyond the door was… different.

Unlike every other part of the house, each surface of the room was covered in metal, and every part of the room itself lined with shelves filled to the brim with old scrolls and books, organized to an exacting degree from what little she saw as they passed. It was like seeing the room in a library or museum that no one was allowed in that contained all the original works.

Yet, what caught her eye most was the single scroll, far older and worn than the rest, at the other end of the rather small room all alone, propped to look as if it was the most important thing among all others. Given that she felt familiarity from it, which was strange in itself, and from none of the others, she figured that it _was_ the most important piece of literature there. Otou-sama ignoring everything other than that scroll only reinforced the thought.

While she felt interest in the rest of the literature around her, she kept focused on Otou-sama and the solitary scroll, walking with him up to the wooden pedestal the scroll sat on and watching as he gingerly took hold of the worn paper. With weariness in his movements, Otou-sama turned and looked down at her, not saying anything for a moment before turning his head minutely to address the scroll. "Nanoha… the other branches will arrive at the end of the month. They'll be coming to see and acknowledge you as the next clan head."

A pause sounded, in which she nodded her head in acknowledgement and nothing more, she'd rather not interrupt Otou-sama, not when he was talking about clan 'politics', if it could be called that. She'd never met anyone from the other two branches, the last time anyone from the other branches came here was sometime after she was born supposedly.

She was getting off track now, and if it weren't for those thoughts being very short, she'd likely have missed Otou-sama's next words, muttered as he turned back to the scroll. "The Takamachi have been without a proper head for years." She didn't make a single sound as she took a step forward, listening intently to Otou-sama even as her gaze moved to fixate on the scroll fully… it was strange to feel attracted to something she'd never seen before.

Otou-sama continued speaking, his voice unchanged from what it had been since he first called her to follow, gesturing to the piece of literature with a deliberate hand. "This scroll is for the clan head, and only the clan head. I have no idea what is in it, though I have my guess, but it belongs to you, and whoever comes after you, Nanoha." With that, Otou-sama lowered his arm, turning about and moving past her before stopping just after he passed by her, giving one last comment and pressing the key into her hand with a single movement of his hand.

"Whatever happens, know both I and your Kaa-san love you. No matter what you do or become."

And with that, he made his way out of the strange room and back into the house proper, likely to go to bed or something else, leaving her alone with what was apparently her 'birthright' or something in that sense. For a long moment she just stood there, still intently staring at the scroll before looking down as her hand brought up the key, a simple, unadorned piece of iron, another moment passing before she looked back at the scroll and pocketed the key.

A step forward, followed by two more brought her to the lone scroll, a hand reaching out and prying it from its pedestal before she beheld it… It felt familiar, so very familiar, from the feel of the parchment on her hands, to the faint smell of age it had on it… yet she'd never once seen it before tonight. It was strange and somewhat concerning that it felt like that, but she brushed aside any worry she'd make and focused on the object causing it. Her other hand came about and opened the scroll just enough to see the first portion, eyes widening in surprise at its contents before uttering two words found within.

"… Sasaki. Kojirō."

There was no reason to take the scroll outside the room, not when she was planning to leave the moment she looked at it once. So it was left there, waiting for her to come back and learn its great secret when she returned.

She took a few minutes to go back through the house and to the grass outside to check on Onee-sama and Chrono-san, finding them sleeping peacefully in their respective spots with only minor shuffling having happened, moving both of their blankets to cover themselves better. With only one look back and a gentle smile, she walked to the gate of the compound before strolling down the road to the city below.

Her walk came to a stop once she was a ways away from home, a platform made under her that took her into the sky with a simple burst of mana. Idly her mind wandered as she strolled along her platform, then off onto another without a break in stride, the thoughts slowly darkening her mood and causing her to grip Okaa-sama's sword by its handle to the point her hand ached.

She'd carve apart the Hammer-Knight, carve Okaa-sama's blade into her skin and mar her flesh, then it could be placed with Okaa-sama when they took her corpse to the ancestral graveyard.

Shaking her head lightly to return herself to reality while loosening her grip on Okaa-sama's sword, she sped herself up until she was within the city itself, staying out of sight as much as possible while observing the ground below. The night was still alive, people moving through the streets to places she could only guess, vehicles passing by in near silence… it was best not to be noticed by normal people, too many questions to answer.

Her journey came to an end as she felt a familiar pulse of mana, her demeanor falling apart completely to be replaced with a blank mask as she came to a stop atop a random building of concrete and glass. With a miniscule movement of her arm her own sword came out of her sleeve and into her waiting hand, a flick of her hand bringing it to its full length.

And with that she waited for her foe to arrive, standing proud and in the open as the inevitable barrier came forward. With barely any thought given to it, her blade scraped against the rooftop as she started to pace about, growing increasingly tense as time passed and none of the Knights appeared.

Stopping for a moment as her instincts flared up alongside a trio of Ablenkschutz manifesting around her, her gaze turning up as something screeched against the mana before plowing into the building. Hammer-Knight's scowling face met her own, rage quickly setting in behind her features as she glared upwards, though she didn't do anything more as the girl sent a volley of shots at her again.

Just like before, her shields came about from Razing Heart's intervention, sending them straight into the crumbling roof around her, a platform made under her in the case of it failing even as her instincts continued to warn her of something. With a quickness gained through repetition, her free hand snatched Razing Heart from her neck and socketed her jewel into the blade, her Jacket made shortly after just as the roof crumbled and her instincts flared again.

No shots from the Hammer-Knight were sent through the midst of the dust cloud made by the collapsing roof, instead she strengthened her skin with the second endurance augment she'd made. _"Eisenmauer."_ Razing Heart intoned the single word right as something impacted against her head, whatever it was having enough force to knock her head back and make her stumble, but little else.

Her gaze moved to where the attack came from, even as her body moved to slash through the settling dust at the new enemy, the blade hitting something else with a clang before a masculine grunt sounded in front of her. " _Großer Einfluss."_ It was overkill. But she didn't care.

More force was put into the swing, and with a startled noise, whatever had hit her was sent flying with several audible cracks spearing through the cloud, just before the augment was turned off, too much mana put into a single part of the body for an extended time ended poorly. A crash sounded further ahead, and as the final bits of dust settled she saw the Wolf-man briefly flying before she found herself smashed through the platform and battered roof by a hammer.

Two floors she was sent through before impacting into the third and rolling away just before a metal sphere smashed through the cratered floor to the lower levels, leaving her unharmed for the most part. Not even a concussion from being hit in the head, surprising but helpful since it allowed her to concentrate, Eisenmauer was a worthwhile investment in making for this fight.

Her thoughts quickly came to a halt as she exploded a platform under her, sending her through the concrete wall rather than the hole as her opponents would likely expect and onto another waiting platform that sent her higher into the air, alongside a taller building. Quickly looking around, she found one of her foes standing above the hole, the Hammer-Knight holding three spheres between her fingers, though she didn't see the Wolf-man.

Mana flooded her legs for a moment before she pushed off the building, sending her rocketing back at the girl as mana coursed along her blade the moment she pulled it back. As she crossed the distance, the other girl sent her projectiles flying at her, a shield manifesting for each bullet to deflect them without a second thought. Her blade lashed out just before she reached the other girl, seemingly missing and letting the knight's hammer sail towards her unimpeded.

Not every attack is a slash though, something the Knight forgot for the brief moment between her reaching them.

With a lunge her sword speared through the girl's right shoulder, crippling the hammer's blow greatly and causing the girl to cry in pain. A second later had her body ram into the girl, sending both of them back into the building… or rather, just the girl as she had the side of her head hit unexpectedly, sending her flying away with her bloody blade still trapped in the Knight's shoulder.

A terrible crash sounded below as she stood back up, seemingly not fazed in the least by the blow as she dusted off her kimono before looking back at the heavily-breathing Wolf-man, with the man tensing further into his stance at her casual dismissal of his attack. Of course it was mostly just an act, her vision swam briefly as what was most likely a concussion settled down, the man probably putting in more power than before now that she had Eisenmauer up.

It wouldn't be up for much longer. Putting one foe down was more important than staying safe, and remaining alive wasn't much of a concern. They were 'pulling their punches' as Onii-sama would call it, that last punch was enough proof.

Eisenmauer was dropped, replaced with both her higher-level speed and strength augments, though not the best ones, no sound made to indicate the change before she pushed off and closed the distance. For a brief moment before she started, she saw the man's eyes widen minutely before trying to punch her, something she ducked under before rising and striking him straight in the chest.

She had to give that despite her current strength, the man was tough since he didn't go flying, only giving a pained grunt and closing his eyes before trying to deliver a return blow to her. She ducked under it as well, though doing so made it impossible to dodge the following kick… so she did the next best thing and punched his leg.

It… worked. Somewhat.

Wolf-man was sent off-balance while most of her arm broke on impact, the folly of being without Eisenmauer in this situation, on top of being sent flying back into and through the edge of the rooftop and into the air above the street. She was given no time to catch herself before a second crash came from the ruined building a shout drowned out by rocket engines, a quick look finding the Hammer-Knight spinning erratically with her hammer turned into a rocket again.

Mana flooded her body even more than it had, what her speed spell replaced with Eisenmauer as her right arm reared back, even more mana concentrated in the limb. And just like the first time they fought, as the Knight came barreling at her, she caught the drill-head, 'upgrading' Eisenmauer to its highest form before they both crashed into the building behind her.

She didn't bother focusing on the girl's face, the emotion that was there would almost certainly be one of determination, instead she focused on the wound she made earlier. There was blood still running from it, but it wasn't a debilitating wound, just one that would impede the Knight slightly. There wasn't any feeling in her arm, despite the rocket-hammer embedding itself in it and started spraying blood around and on them, even as her arm tore itself apart from the inside out.

After they came to a dead stop against a ceiling, she finally heard the Knight speak for the first time since they started, yelling over the rocket. "Break Damnit!" Engines flared with an angry roar in response to those words, and she felt actual pressure being applied to her arm for a moment, her response being only to send more mana to her arm, despite the obvious implications to that, and raised her other arm behind her.

"BREAK YOU DAMN BITCH!"

No. She would not break.

Her fist collided with the other girl straight in the same shoulder she'd stabbed just a while ago, she heard a break through the rocket's declining roar, before the engine simply sputtered out and was wrenched out of her hand. The moment the hammer was removed she shut off every augment in her right arm, mostly because the arm was useless now and she'd waste mana keeping those up, and her mana was starting to get low after the usage of her biggest augments.

Still, being without one arm was fine. She still had another one to fight with, and Razing Heart wou-

… That needed to be addressed now, before she lost herself in the fight again.

The Knight was admirably still in front of her as she made a platform between her and the ceiling before detonating it, the girl clutching at her shoulder with a pain look before looking back at the noise. For a brief moment panic appeared in her eyes, and the Hammer-Knight brought up a shield to try and defend herself, the shield holding for a few seconds on the first strike before it shattered with its course unaltered.

Her foe was aware enough at least that she had started to flee the moment her shield arrived, so by the time it shattered into mana, she was already halfway through the holes left in their wake. Unfortunately for the Knight, all it took was another explosion from a platform to get back her lost speed, which led her to snatching the back of the other girl's head and dragging her out with her.

Out one building, only to ram into the first with all the force of a wrecking ball, cratering and breaking the metal, glass and concrete making up the lower level. While without a doubt a heavy hit, it wouldn't kill the Knight… she'd taken too many hits before to die just from that, but she needed to get her sword back in order to fight properly.

That didn't mean she was finished just yet with the Knight.

She couldn't move her right arm, meaning she had to let go of the girl in order to draw Okaa-sama's sword, though aside from a pained gasp, some blood seeping through the rubble and a slight shifting of the girl's body, the Hammer-Knight didn't move as she let go. With quick motion Okaa-sama's sword was drawn, and without any hesitation she reversed the weapon and plunged it into the center of the girl's back.

A scream of pain came unbidden as she twisted the blade, before wrenching it out, a breath taken before she turned and made her way up with help from her platforms. She didn't look back as the Wolf-man barreled towards her with what looked like rage on his face, another detonating platform sending her through the glass of the building, hopefully where her sword was.

The Wolf-man followed her seemingly without a thought given, leading her to abandon her search before she even started, leaving her full of annoyance as she turned back to him. A triangle of white mana appeared in front of the man without warning, the man yelling angrily just as the magic triangle shot numerous white beams at her. "Steel Yoke!"

Before she even had a chance to prepare for the beams several shot up from the ground and impaled her through her body, though strangely it didn't cause any blood to appear, in addition to no pain whatsoever being caused. What it did do was raise her off the ground and unbalance her, making the rest of the beams ram into her with all the force she did against the Hammer-Knight, and, while not painful in the slightest, sent her flying through the wall behind her and embedded her into another wall.

He came charging without any delay, her eyes taking in the room and ceiling before finding what she had been looking for. Then came painless punch, after painless punch, after painless punch, though she heard every bone hit break on contact with the man hitting her. It stopped just as quickly as it started, though he was smart enough to jump back rather than stay near her, getting ready for anything she might do.

It was smart, but it didn't mean it was a good idea. He should have continued committing until she was dead.

She heard the whispers coming from Razing Heart in her head, and from the momentary lull she saw them amidst the rubble, both Razing Heart and her sword. Her head lulled to the side as her smile slowly worked its way back onto her face, unnerving the man as she started to giggle. " _Die Nummer ist auf Neunundsechzig eingestellt. Eins wird subtrahiert, die Zahl wird auf achtundsechzig gesetzt_." Razing Heart's voice rang pleasantly through the air, the Wolf-man startling at the noise before stilling and watching as her body reknit itself before his eyes.

He hadn't seen it before, only the Hammer-Knight had… it was natural to stare in fascination… or horror at what she did with Razing Heart's help.

" _My Seraph."_ Her head twisted to look over at her sword, the beams holding her in place 'groaning' as she twisted her body, before completely snapping without warning and releasing her. Aside from looking at Razing Heart and her sword though she didn't say anything, her bones making little cracks of noise as she took a few steps and reached her blade. _"You are in a better mood now. Did something happen while you were away?"_

Her smile was gentle and happy as she grasped her blade, something that felt nice to her after the last two battles of just a blank look… She shook her head as she stood back up turned her head back to the still-tense Wolf-man, before humming. "I stabbed the Hammer Knight in the spine. It felt nice." There was soft laughter coming from Razing Heart, quickly fading away into silence as she turned fully back to the man, her head tilting to the side at his actions.

"Aren't you going to attack me?" Her voice startled the Wolf-man, just enough to be noticeable and nothing more, the man quickly returning to his stance without saying a word, seemingly as if to guard against her rather than fight her… Wait, wasn't the third of their number a healer?

…

Her smile dimmed slightly while her eyes narrowed, that would explain why he looked uninjured despite the beating she had given him barely a few minutes ago… which also meant the healer was treating the Hammer-Knight right now. Abruptly her sword burst into pink flame, moments before she stabbed the floor and unleashed the rampant mana.

Exploding the ground was simple enough, the debris wasn't much of an issue with Eisenmauer active, so without a second thought she leapt through the dust and into the hole, and then immediately stopped and turned. Cruelty gleamed in her smile as she brought her blade back, before swinging the moment she saw something coming through the cloud.

A grunt of pain cut through the crumbling rubble and dust, before Razing Heart announced the next spell's name with glee. _"Sprengenklinge!"_ Flames ignited further for a brief moment before a deafening explosion sent the Wolf-man flying, her smile returning to normal as she dropped to the floor and heard a crash from the direction she sent him in.

With that done, she turned back in the direction she'd been going and ran to the wall, putting her augments for endurance and strength on before ramming though the wall in a shower of debris and dust. Immediately a platform formed under her, which she managed to land on with some grace before looking back at the building she'd exited, searching up without luck before moving down and finding the crater she'd made… and the Hammer-Knight and Healer there.

Her smile didn't drop again at the scene, it just twitched before she settled for just launching herself forward and falling towards the two.

They saw her of course, it was hard not to when her method of flight was loud when she was going fast along with her being the middle of the air, and the Healer quit whatever it was she was doing and started to run off while the Hammer-Knight got ready. Her feet touched another platform, immediately beginning to slide down it, twisting her sword around in her hand quickly to where it was held in reverse as she did.

With a single movement of rearing her hand back, she first had the sword burst into pink flames again before throwing it like a spear at the Hammer-Knight.

The Knight reacted as any normal person would have, bringing up a shield to block the flaming projectile after a moment of short-lived surprise. That shield barely protected the girl, since fire-aligned was especially good at breaking apart defenses, though weren't good for much else, the entire sword impaling through the now-cracked shield and barely missing the Knight's head.

It gave out when she rammed into her blade shoulder-first, shattering the mana into pieces and sending the Knight stumbling through the air for a moment, her blade quickly caught before it went sailing somewhere else. Before the Knight had a chance to catch herself, she detonated a hastily-made platform that sent her at the girl, her free hand grabbing the girl by the face and dragging the Knight along with her.

She opted to do what had taken the girl out in the first place… except on a slightly… bigger piece of construction, 'flying' into a piece of the highway running through the city while putting- " _Mächtige Einfluss_ " on.

Slamming into the pavement sent a jolt through her body, though it had it had to be far worse for the Hammer-Knight since she had been used to carve a trench into the highway. Not like it'd kill her though, this was too weak to kill her after all the damage she'd already done after all the fights.

The trench lasted for several seconds more before it was ended prematurely by a fist smashing into her face, her head snapping back before her body followed soon after, sending her away from the Hammer-Knight. "… Oww…" Low groaning quietly came out as she slid to a stop, sword finally ceasing its scraping against the concrete as she did, it didn't really hurt too much, but it would leave an ache for a while.

Bones cracked in discomfort as she stood up, she stopped making noise, immediately noticing the Wolf-man standing in front of the Hammer-Knight as the latter struggled to get out of the trench, coughing and spitting of blood. She had really done a number on her… that was… surprising honestly.

Nothing happened between them, the Hammer-Knight struggled to get up, Wolf-man stood ready to defend the Knight, and she herself stood there, stretching to remove the kinks and a few of the sores accumulated throughout this fight. Verdant colors in her periphery drew her eyes to the sky, watching as the Healer worriedly descended and manifested out a Belkan 'circle' in front of her, green light covering the Hammer-Knight.

Slowly, and likely with a lot of pain, the youngest of the three here drew herself to her knees, hammer bracing herself from falling back down as a pained cough wracked her body. It didn't last long, but it affected what the girl directed at her, and made her strain to hear what she had to say.

"Who… the hell… are… you?!"

Her head tilted in response to the question, it was similar to the question asked when they first met but worded just differently enough to warrant a different answer. So with that in mind, the moment she pulled her sword out of her chest, she gave her reply to the Hammer-Knight, words devoid of both amusement and sarcasm. "I'm no one important."

Silence stood alone for a few moments as they seemingly tried to comprehend what she had said… which was strange since it wasn't that hard to understand. She wasn't important to them and she never would be, she wasn't even important period until the year ended, and even then that was only to her family. So again, she wasn't anyone important, and it wasn't like she was going to name herself to them when they never gave her that courtesy.

They didn't take her words well though, well Hammer-Knight didn't anyway, it was hard to tell when the Healer wasn't anywhere she could see, and the Wolf-man rarely changed expressions. Either way, the Hammer-Knight didn't take it well, and instantly went into a tirade she didn't care about, she still listened since it was aimed at her, but it wasn't interesting in the least. "Not Important!? You beat the shit out of me and Zafira, and have higher mana reserves than the crazy woman with a teacup-hammer, then claim not to be impor-"

It came without a single warning.

One moment she was listening to the Hammer-Knight with disinterest, the next there was a blinding pain in her left eye, her body stumbling back while her head instinctively bowed, almost bring her hand to claw at the eye before she got a hold of herself. Her right hand quickly moved to her eye and felt what had caused it… something metal, thin and long was embedded in her face, causing her to bleed and lose her sight.

Faintly she heard the Healer shout at something, while the other two remained silent, though didn't do anything, "Signum! What are you doing? We need her alive for her Linker Core or el-!" Forcefully she gripped the projectile in her eye by the metal, and with a single jerk tore it, and what remained of her eye, out. Her breath hitched as large amounts of pain assaulted her head, making her release the bloody arrow in her hand, the metal projectile clattering against the concrete loudly before she looked up with a single baleful eye.

Whatever else would have been said after the Healer started never came as they found themselves under her glare, her sword coming up to point at the older of the two women, atop a random building far away from the rest of them. She could barely make her out, especially with only a single eye, but she still saw the Hammer-Knight and Wolf-man backing away in the corners of her vision.

" _Commen-"_ "No." Her voice cut through Razing Heart's own, were the Device able to look at her with her human form, she'd almost certainly be looking at her with confusion. Her sword lowered minutely as the two combatants near her tensed and got ready yet again to fight, her voice continuing as she started walking forward. "I only need one eye to fight. Wait until I'm blind or severely wounded."

There was silence for a moment before Razing Heart replied, no emotion at all in her robotic voice. " _There will be consequences if you keep it unhealed, Seraph."_ Her own reply came quicker, yet was just the same as Razing Heart's own, practically lifeless as she looked down at the jewel for a moment. "All things have consequences. Even your healing." Her body tensed in preparation, a platform behind her waiting, and then came Razing Heart's reply.

"… _Understood, my Seraph."_

With that reply ended her attention returned to her foes, spread out with the healer no where to be seen… A hollow clang echoed through the empty city as another arrow collided with her shoulder, the projectile not piercing through her skin with Stahlmauer active for the brief time that the arrow was noticed.

Immediately she took the spell down, if she didn't her shoulder would probably implode on itself again. Once more, she heard the Healer speak, asking the same question the Hammer-Knight had asked the night they had met one another, fright and nervousness palpable in her voice. "What… What are you?"

"I'm just a Monster, no one important. None of you… are my Hero." A sigh left her lips upon her saying that… it was getting both annoying and tiring to continue answering what she was… It really, really was.

She's just have to tune them out from now on, so she could enjoy herself, and fight without any distractions… a shame that they weren't actually calling out to one another… maybe they were doing something like Yuuno-san did back when they were gathering the Jewel Seeds?

Either way, the battle resumed as her platform detonated behind her and sent her straight at the Healer.

* * *

Nock the arrow, pull the string back, start to aim where the target was…

Crashing in the distance, a building smoking as she watched with mechanical detachment. Then Vita's voice called yet again through the link they had with one another. _"LEFT LEFT LEFT! She's going through the building! Hol-"_ Another crash sounded just as Vita cut out, followed by yet another crash as the new Seraph did something to Vita.

Vita's voice shouldn't have been affected by whatever had just happened, strange that her next words were said weakly with pain evident. _"Why am I the one that gets the short end of the stick?"_ She didn't reply, nor did either of the other two focused as everyone was, Seraph's were difficult to put down, even one as young and wingless as this one.

String taut, aim lower to compensate, release the arrow.

" _Whe-"_ Her arrow flew, true and emotionless as always, straight into the Seraph. High-pitched clangs rang out from the contact between the Seraph and her projectile, just like before. This time however, she had put more force behind the arrow, and evens occurred naturally in the arrow's favor, taking the Seraph with it.

Form the arrow, nock the arrow, pause.

In the distance she felt them coming, two signatures breaching the barrier with relative ease. " _The Admiral and her child are approaching."_ Cold words echoed through the link the Wolkenritter shared, the three pausing momentarily as the statement set in before Vita started raging.

" _DAMN IT!"_ She didn't wince at the volume, though her mouth dipped slightly in annoyance at it, Vita continuing in her anger to vent even as she moved after the Seraph. _"We_ finally _get one person all alone, that doesn't bolt like a hare and two more show up to intrude! Why!? Why the Hell do we have the worst damn luck!?"_

"Before either Shamal or Zafira could respond she cut in, silencing whatever they would say and dousing the haze of anger Vita was in. _"I will deal with those two personally when they arrive. The three of you will take care of the girl."_ Their moment of silence was quickly interrupted by the wall Zafira was beside breaking apart, shrapnel flying outward barely dodged by the second youngest of them.

Aim for the target, compensate for distance. Pour mana into the arrow.

Unfortunate that the Seraph was right behind the rock and sent the Guardian Beast flying into the building opposite from her with a punch. Fortunate, for she revealed herself for another arrow.

"Sturmfalcon." Laevatein said nothing in response to her whisper, yet lit the arrow in flame.

Release the arrow and watch it soar.

The girl turned just in time to witness the arrow, one of her shields manifesting quickly into existence only to fall before the phoenix's wrath. Without any resistance the spell ripped through he girl's chest, taking the heart and assuredly both lungs as well, before continuing forward to pierce building after building in its path until it impacted the ground.

" _Signum? Are you sure that's a good idea? Not to say I doubt you but there's two of them and only one of you."_ Shamal's concern was refreshing, but misplaced. Her main hand gripped the top half of the bow before ripping it off in one smooth motion, untold amounts of time making it as simple as breathing, with both halves turning back into their normal forms.

Sheathing the blade back into its container without a single though, she watched as the Seraph started its cursed rejuvenation, organs regrowing quickly before bone, muscle, skin and clothing followed. Even the eye came back, but that was expected, a shame it would fail eventually, faster than the other. A Seraph with only one working eye was less of a challenge than one with two.

A moment of silence spent watching the girl reform passed before she answered the youngest Wolkenritter. " _My blade may not have been used in the years since our last Master, but it is not dull yet. I worry more for you three fighting the Seraph than myself fighting those two."_ Her heart may have grown cold over the long years spent in their Masters' service, but she still held some attachment to her siblings.

" _I will deal with them quickly. Simply survive the Seraph in the meantime."_

There was a hesitant acknowledgement from Shamal, a pained one from Zafira, and nothing from Vita. Vita made sense since she just rammed her hammer straight into the Seraph's head, sending her rocketing into the ground. Without another word she turned, walked a step before leaping into the air, catching herself with flight before speeding off towards Lindy and Chrono.

This would be yet another sin added to her. Knight of Betrayal was much more apt a title than Knight of the Burning Sky was considering her history and the people she had served.

Beyond that thought, nothing assailed her beyond the distant sounds of the battle and Vita cursing as she flew towards her friend. Just before reaching them, she landed on top of one of a skyscraper and waited, rewarded near instantly with Lindy alighting onto the rooftop with her hammer lazily thrown onto her shoulders and Chrono hovering a bit behind his mother, stave at the ready for anything.

Naïve to think he would make any difference in this fight considering how young he was, brave to come to a fight despite knowing that. Fortunate for him, she wouldn't harm him physically.

Lindy wasted no time in speaking, voice humming and light despite the circumstances, even if she started with a drawn-out sigh. "I _just_ went to sleep Signum. I know you four are desperate and all, but couldn't you have waited for me to get even a few hours of sleep before trying to beat Nanoha up?" Amusement didn't make its way into her body at Lindy's antics, the woman was dangerous even if slightly tired.

It didn't mean she stood a chance though, there was too much of a gap between them, simply because of experience of years. Even in her weakened state that was the case.

Another sigh came from Lindy when she didn't react at all, hammer slung off her shoulders to rest at her side, humming slowly ending as she did. The hammer lifted to point at her before bursting into flame at two mechanical words, a sad smile in place on Lindy's face as she spoke their last civil words. "It was nice to see you again, Signum."

She merely nodded in reply, before bringing her sheathe up in front of her. Yet another betrayal added to countless others… it wore at one's soul to remember each and every one. It was the price paid for memory of all the good times of the Wolkenritter and their Masters.

Her other hand rose to grip Laevatein before pulling it from its sheathe with sullen finality. No noise came from her Device, empty as it was after sharing her pain for so long and finally asking her to cease. She complied, he had suffered too much like herself.

For her Master, any betrayal save one was worth performing.

Father comfort her Soul.


End file.
